“Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied,” Says Ex-BEL Workers

Former employees of Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) are pressing on their demand for severance payments that they say the company has wrongly withheld for years despite a Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling that supports their case.

In its latest press release, the Belize Energy Workers for Justice (BEWJ) accused BEL once again of failing to adhere to its company values by continuing to deny former workers what they describe as their legal entitlement.

“We demand that BEL pays us our outstanding Severance Payments,” BEWJ stated. “BEL has insisted that the well-being and fair treatment of their employees have always been a priority and consistent with one of their key values, ‘We put People First.”

“We call on BEL to put us first,” BEWJ added.

BEWJ’s fresh push centres on whether BEL’s pension plan already covered severance obligations. Meanwhile, BEL has maintained that severance was satisfied through the employer-funded portion of its pension scheme. Former workers strongly reject that position.

However, the BEWJ directly quoted the CCJ ruling, which the group said states that “Pension and Severance are two separate things” and that severance “is an independent statutory right in Belize.”

According to the group, the contributory pension plan at BEL “did not account for” severance benefits, and is now calling on Labour Minister Kareem Musa, Prime Minister John Briceño and the wider government to intervene.

The former employees say they are tired of waiting, stating, “Justice delayed is justice denied.”