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High Court orders GUYSUCO to pay severance, interest to Wales sugar workers
Hours after scores of sugar workers picketed in front of parliament calling for salary increases yesterday, High Court Judge Sandil Kissoon ordered the State to pay redundant workers of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) their outstanding severance pay with interest.
The ruling comes months after Government was sued over its refusal to pay over 300 workers attached to the Wales, West Bank Demerara estate their severance payments. The matter was filed in court on behalf of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), the union representing the sugar worker after the Government made several promises to pay but failed to deliver.
Lawyers involved in the matter disclosed that the workers will be paid ex gratia payments representing severance from December 31, 2016 to (yesterday) with interest at the rate of 4%. As it relates to those workers who went to Uitvlugt estate, they will be paid severance as of today’s date (yesterday) along with one month payment.
The exact amount to be paid out has not been decided as interest is still to be calculated, but it is estimated that a few hundreds of millions of dollars will be remunerated to 345 workers which includes those who took up employment at Uitvlugt and others who have ceased working.
For now, lawyers say that the matter has been settled. They, however, noted the issue of the workers receiving their payments. It was put to the lawyers by a reporter that 371 workers from the Wales estates were to receive severance. 
In responding, one of the lawyers explained that some of the workers had to be excluded from receiving payment since some were found not to be entitled, while others had died or left the country. In any event that these workers come forward, the lawyers indicated that they would have to deal with it accordingly.
Earlier this month, Justice Fidela Corbin-Lincoln ordered the State to pay redundant sugar workers their outstanding severance with interest no later than January 15, 2019. These consist of some 4,280 workers attached to the Skeldon, Rose Hall and the East Demerara Sugar Estates their full severance payments.
The respective rulings by the High Court judges come on the heels of a decision of the National Assembly to unanimously approve GY$2.451 billion to pay remaining severance to 4,723 sugar workers who have been laid off with the closure of several estates across the country.
Earlier this year, sugar workers whose severance packages were $500,000 or less, were paid in full, under a supplementary budgetary provision of $1.931 billion, in an effort to provide severance packages to the fired workers. However, workers earning more than that specified amount were paid half of their severance. Their outstanding payment was at the centre of the civil cases.
The redundant workers were to receive their redundancy allowance/severance payment no later than December 29, 2017, which was in keeping with the letter of Section 21 of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act (TESPA).
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