Former BEL Workers Demand Long‑Overdue Severance Pay

Tonight, a group of long‑serving Belize Electricity Limited workers is speaking out, and they say it’s long overdue. Former BEL employees are now demanding severance pay, they insist the company has legally owed them for years. The Belize Energy Workers for Justice has formally requested what’s due, but instead of answers, it’s getting delays. Many of these workers spent decades helping power the country, and they argue this fight isn’t just about them; it’s about workers’ rights nationwide. Pointing to the 2025 Caribbean Court of Justice ruling, they say the law is clear: severance and pension are not the same, and both must be honored. So why haven’t they been paid? Tonight, we take a closer look at their claims and what this could mean for workers across Belize.

 

Dorla Staine, Belize Energy Workers for Justice

“This ruling, Number 17, treatment of employees, payment on termination of employment. Notwithstanding any rules of the pension plan, where member retires from or is terminated, or resigns from service, having been employed for such period as would qualify, the said member for severance pay under the Labor Act, or any amendment or reenactment thereof, or under the collective agreement or otherwise, then any monies received from the plan represented the employers contributions to the plan, shall be deemed to be paid to account of severance pay entitlements. The sum, so paid, shall be deemed to be in lieu of part of his pension under benefits under the pension plan. Guys, if you summarize this, that is exactly what the CCJ ruled that you should not do. Those guys just… let me say an old Creole [proverb] dehn talla walla di ting, mix up di two thing and mix pension and severance. That’s what they did.”

 

Workers Say BEL Blurred the Lines on Severance Pay

 

At the heart of the dispute isn’t just money; it’s about how the system works or doesn’t. Former BEL employees say the company blurred the lines for years, treating pension benefits as a substitute for severance pay. But based on legal advice they’ve received, that approach runs counter to the Labor Act, which treats severance as a separate and mandatory payment. The workers have laid out a paper trail they say tells its own story: a formal request submitted on February twenty‑third, acknowledged days later, followed by weeks of back‑and‑forth. Most recently, BEL signaled it wouldn’t respond until around April twentieth, more than a month after the original request. Frustrated by what they call continued delays; the former employees have now decided to take their case public.

 

Elizabeth Crawford, Belize Energy Workers for Justice

“We have been writing them from February 23^rd, and they keep moving the goalpost. They haven’t given us their position as to where they stand in regards to the CCJ ruling. They haven’t given us anything. They have been extending and extending and extending the deadline just to give us their position. And so, that brings us here to this press conference because we need to bring public awareness to this issue, and we need BEL to respond to us, to let us know what is their position. So far, we don’t know what is BEL’s position on the whole matter and they haven’t responded to us. And so, we are still waiting for a response from them. And that is the reason why we are here today.”

 

In a statement released today, BEL says it has launched a comprehensive review of its severance and pension arrangements to ensure every claim is handled fairly. The company notes that the review goes back as far as 1988, even though some of the employee separations involved date back more than twenty-five years. BEL maintains that it has consistently met,  and in many cases exceeded,  legal severance requirements. The company says employees have historically received up to four weeks’ wages for every year of service, well above what the law required prior to 2011. The CCJ ruling clarified that workers are entitled to severance in addition to a pension, unless the pension already accounts for severance benefits. BEL says its pension plan has done exactly that since 2007, satisfying the company’s legal obligations. BEL is now reviewing claims on an individual basis and says it is issuing formal responses as each review is completed.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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