CitCo Owes SSB $700,000 – Workers Refused Benefits

As we go to press, the Belize Times has been reliably informed by a source within the UDP City Hall that the Council owes the Social Security Board approximately $700,000 in unpaid workers’ contributions. We are also reliably informed that after months of failed negotiations with the Belize City Council, SSB is now refusing to pay workers their benefits and are instead referring them back to City Hall and to the Labout Department.

Our investigations have revealed that it is unlawful for the Social Security Board to withhold benefits from workers, once it can establish that the worker is in fact employed by that company. By law, SSB must pay the benefits and then collect from the hard-pay employer by whatever means necessary. A source within SSB is claiming that the CEO of SSB Merlene Bailey Martinez has issued instructions that no employee of the Belize City Council is to receive benefits until CitCo pays off its arrears to SSB or makes some arrangement to clear its debts with the board.

As early as last year, the Belize Times had broken the story of monies being taken from workers’ salaries by City Hall for Social Security contributions and then not being paid in to SSB. The situation has gotten decidedly worse, and it is the workers who need the benefits who are being punished for the actions of the malpago UDP City Council.

The Belize Times will continue to investigate this breaking story.

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