[Trinidad and Tobago] Delinquent employers owe hundreds of millions to NIB

Delinquent employers in Trinidad and Tobago owe the National Insurance Board (NIB) hundreds of millions of dollars for non-payment of workers’ national insurance contributions. The Annual Reports of NIB revealed that employers were in arrears of over $437 million in 2018. Employers' arrears totalled $565 million in 2017 and $383 million in 2016. 

The National Workers Union (NWU) has reportedly written to the NIB, the Police Commissioner, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), trade union bodies and parliamentarians on the issue. Speaking to T&T’s Sunday Guardian, the union called it “utterly scandalous” that employers are in arrears to NIB for such a sum. 

The NWU said, “The Annual Reports of the NIB are always laid in the Parliament. The 2007 Annual Report showed that the ratio of contribution arrears to contribution income continued to decline, moving from 1.4 per cent in 2006 to 1.1 per cent in 2007. In 2018, the ratio of employers' arrears skyrocketed to nearly ten per cent. Clearly, this is a scandalous and obscene situation.” Trinidad and Tobago Guardian explores the story and the steps being taken to make amends.

Delinquent employers in Trinidad and Tobago owe the National Insurance Board (NIB) hundreds of millions of dollars for non-payment of workers’ national insurance contributions. The Annual Reports of NIB revealed that employers were in arrears of over $437 million in 2018. Employers' arrears totalled $565 million in 2017 and $383 million in 2016. 

The National Workers Union (NWU) has reportedly written to the NIB, the Police Commissioner, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), trade union bodies and parliamentarians on the issue. Speaking to T&T’s Sunday Guardian, the union called it “utterly scandalous” that employers are in arrears to NIB for such a sum. 

The NWU said, “The Annual Reports of the NIB are always laid in the Parliament. The 2007 Annual Report showed that the ratio of contribution arrears to contribution income continued to decline, moving from 1.4 per cent in 2006 to 1.1 per cent in 2007. In 2018, the ratio of employers' arrears skyrocketed to nearly ten per cent. Clearly, this is a scandalous and obscene situation.” Trinidad and Tobago Guardian explores the story and the steps being taken to make amends.