Leaked Documents Raise New Questions Over BEL Severance Payments

The fight for severance at BEL just took a sharper turn. Energy workers say they are now more determined than ever after learning that senior managers at Belize Electricity Limited are walking away with severance packages, while lower tier workers are left empty handed. The Belize Energy Workers for Justice argue that the rules aren’t being applied equally, and they say they now have proof to back it up. News Five has obtained documents showing what appears to be unequal compliance with severance regulations at BEL. Shane Williams has the story.

 

Shane Williams, Reporting

We’ve reached out to Belize Electricity Limited for answers after obtaining documents that show senior executives received lucrative exit packages, including severance, when they left the company. Those documents detail payouts to Vice President of Customer Care and Operations Felix Murrin in November 2007, Vice President of Engineering and Energy Supply Joseph Sukhnandan in June 2011, and Senior Manager for System Planning and Engineering Rolando Santos in September 2015. We’re now waiting for BEL’s response on how those payments square with claims that other workers were denied severance.

 

For many workers, this revelation cuts deep. It comes as sick and elderly former employees march under the scorching sun, demanding severance they believe they’re owed, and saying their long‑held suspicions were right. They argue company policies haven’t been applied evenly, and this latest disclosure only adds insult to injury.

 

Shawn Nicholas, Organizer, BEWJ

“We know they pay themself. Because remember they are paying themselves. They’re serving for themselves. So we know some employees, management get severance also…”

 

Dorla Staine, Organizer, BEWJ

“We know further back that was happening. It was a stink one time in the company. When we were asking in 1999, the workers were saying, pay us our severance. Let us start fresh under the new regime. They said No, we will start a pension. But lo and behold, there were documents circulating where you see big names for big people at the top. They pay themself and they give themself bonuses.”

 

The big people at the top they are referring to are names like Joseph Sukhnandan Vice President, Engineering and Energy Supply, who got this massive severance benefits upon retirement in June of 2011, which includes a payment of over one hundred and fifty-six thousand dollars.

 

This exit letter for Vice President of Customer Care & Operations Felix Murrin shows the board approval of a severance package, including two hundred and nine vacation days and thirty-three thousand Canadian dollars gratuity.

 

When Sr. Manager, System Planning & Engineering Rolando Santos left in September of 2015, his exit package included a severance payment as stipulated under the Labour Act as well as other benefits under BEL’s Pension Plan. We have reached out to the Belize Electricity Limited for clarity on these exit packages but have not received a response as yet. BEL’s position is that their pension and severance arrangements comply with the judgment of the Caribbean Court of Justice on BTL employee’s claims. And documents we have received shows legal opinions for BEL from at least two respectable law firms.

 

This opinion from Barrow and Company points to a Variation Agreement signed between BEL and the union which made it clear that severance payment would be made under the pension plan. However, the company was later advised to clarify and refine the wording moving forward, to ensure its intent is stated plainly and beyond doubt. This opinion from Balderamos and Arthurs agreed with Barrow and Company’s legal opinion that BEL’s pension plan is different from that of BTL and does satisfy the 2025 judgment of the Caribbean Court of Justice but advised that going forward, exit letters to employees should clearly show the calculations for employer’s contribution to the pension, their severance entitlement and whatever shortfall or surplus that exists between the two.

 

Even as legal opinions back BEL’s claim that it has met its obligations to former employees, and insist the company is not in the same position as BTL, the unanswered questions remain. The generous exit packages paid to senior managers, with no clear explanation, continue to fuel accusations of double standards and reinforce the perception that some employees are treated far more equally than others at the energy company. Shane Williams for News Five.

 

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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