Senate Passes The Employment Bill

On Thursday, December 20th 2001, the Senate debated and passed the Employment Bill. This came as a great surprise to most employers as the Prime Minister indicated in mid-September that all the labour Bills were placed on hold in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attack in the United States. The Prime Minister did not confirm the length of time that the bills would be on hold, however he did state that "notice" would be given prior to proceeding with the bills. As a result of the Senate passing the Employment Bill without the private sector employers being notified, a letter was sent to the Prime Minister today, the text of which is as follows:

24th December, 2001

Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham, M.P.
Prime Minister
Commonwealth of The Bahamas
Office of the Prime Minister
Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield Centre
P. O. Box CB-10980
Nassau, The Bahamas

Dear Prime Minister,

On behalf of the Coalition of Private Sector Organisations I want to express disappointment with Thursday's passage of the Employment Act by the Senate without our receiving any prior indication that this would occur. It was our understanding that you had agreed to put a temporary hold on the Labour Bills, including passage by the Senate of the Employment Bill, based on the economic downturn precipitated by September 11th.

We believe that your decision in September was wisely taken and felt that prior to the Senate addressing the legislation, advance notice would have been given to the private sector to allow sufficient time for them to plan accordingly.

Our two primary concerns at this time are the enactment date and the inclusion of the redundancy provision. With the economy in a downward spiral and its outlook bleak at least over the next six months, we strongly believe that enactment at this time will be counterproductive to our economy. The redundancy provision in particular places an unfair burden on employers at a time when many are faced with making extremely difficult decisions regarding staffing levels.

We strongly urge you to set an enactment date of a minimum six months from now. Furthermore, in light of the economic situation, even at this late date we must ask that the redundancy provision be revisited. This provision places extreme hardship on many businesses that are already operating at marginal levels. The current economic situation greatly underscores our concerns.

We are also gravely concerned about the status of the two remaining Labour Bills, the Minimum Wage Bill and the Health And Safety At Work Bill. Is it Government's intention to proceed with these Bills at this time? If so, we request advance notice in order to ready ourselves to meet with you in order to personally present our concerns.

As you know, we have worked diligently with you for over eighteen months on all aspects of these Labour Bills in your effort to create legislation that addresses the concerns and interests of all affected parties. Our economy was buoyant during those eighteen months, however there was a global economic slowdown that was exacerbated by the September 11th terrorist attacks.

We strongly feel that the introduction or enactment of any legislation at this time that places additional burdens on employers will at a minimum prolong our economic recovery, and may possibly produce a dampening effect that will prevent us from realizing our full economic potential.

Yours Sincerely,
Bahamas Employers Confederation
Brian Nutt
President

cc: Hon. Earl Deveaux, M.P., Minister of Labour & Immigration

To expand a bit further on the points raised in the above letter, after the devastation to our economy caused by the September 11th attacks, Government urged employers not to reduce their staff. Many employers complied with this urging by reducing the number of days worked each week by their staff and/or other methods of payroll reduction other than termination of employment. Many employers view the passage of the Employment Bill by Parliament as a betrayal by the Government of their good faith efforts in complying with Government's request.

Further News Bulletins will be issued as additional information becomes available.

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