NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The National Insurance Board (NIB) is advising employers to inform the board when their employees return to work as this will affect payment of their ongoing unemployment benefit claim.
In a notice yesterday, NIB said employers should submit a letter via email to returntowork@nib-bahamas.com.
“This notification should take place promptly upon the employee’s return to work and should specify the restart date for each employee,” it read.
NIB director Nicola Virgill-Rolle recently indicated that NIB had paid out unemployment benefits to over 30,000 people at a cost of just under $34 million.
Earlier this week Labour Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes pegged the country’s unemployment rate at 30 percent amidst the ongoing COVID-19 closures. He encouraged businesses to re-engage their employees as soon as they can.
The Bahamas has been in a state of emergency since March 17, after the country recorded its first case of COVID-19 on March 13.
Bahamians were ordered to stay at home and non-essential services that go against physically distancing policies were shuttered. Companies across the country have laid off employees, including major hotels.
