Logistics Company fails to remit workers NIS payments on time

Feb 05, 2023 News

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… promises to conduct “thorough investigation”

Kaieteur News – Century Tamara Logistics Services (CLTS), a locally owned company with ties to Nigeria, on Saturday admitted that it has not been remitting National Insurance Scheme (NIS) payments for employees in a timely manner.

The company’s admission comes one week after it was reported in the media that it was deducting money from its workers’ salaries for NIS, but not making any payments to the government agency

In response CTLS stated, “Admittedly, there were some delays in NIS remittance towards the end of last year”.

The entity did not state the reasons for remitting the NIS payments but Kaieteur News understands that it is because contractors have experienced delays in paying the company for its services. Notwithstanding, CLTS said that it has since rectified the issue of delays by adopting ‘strict policies to ensure that employees’ contributions are properly processed and remitted in a timely manner” and made all payments on behalf its workers.

“All of our obligations to our employees including NIS and PAYE have been remitted to the appropriate agencies, which we are confident can be verified by said agencies,” CTLS assured.

Nevertheless, the company has committed to conducting a thorough investigation into claims made by some of its current and former employees that their NIS payments are yet to be remitted.

“We take any concerns raised by our employees or others very seriously and are committed to conducting a thorough investigation of the matter to ensure that we maintain our high standards,” the logistics company said.

Three CTLS workers told Kaieteur News a week ago that they were shocked to learn after visiting NIS to query about their contributions, that none was paid since they started working with the company.

Elvis Jones, an Executive Driver claimed that he has been working with CTLS for a year now and claimed that the company never requested an NIS card from him but was deducting over $6,000 monthly from his salary for NIS.

When he visited NIS office to check up his contributions he was reportedly told by one of the staff there that CTLS might be defrauding him because the company cannot make payments on his behalf unless they are in possession of his account number (A number found on his NIS card).

“These people never took an NIS card and yet they taking out money from me”, Jones iterated.

Jones said that he is an interdicted cop and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) stills pays NIS for him so he decided to intervene by stopping the company from deducting more money from him and reimburse the amount they never paid.

“I ask them not to take out my NIS. I had to bring in three police statements to prove that they are paying NIS on my behalf”, Jones said.

The company stopped deducting the money but have refused to reimburse some $38, 921 they failed to remit to NIS.

“This is something that has been going on since I start work with the company and I am not the only one… there are many more who have the issue with CTLS,” Jones alleged.

Jones’ story was corroborated by two other drivers. The second driver, Ryan Anderson was employed with the company for over two years and claimed that he was fired in December last year.

Anderson said after he was dismissed, he went to check on his NIS payments only to learn that his last contribution was made two years ago.

“When I go in to the people them dem tell me that the last contribution by the company that I was working with before CTLs and duh was two years ago”, Anderson alleged.

The man said he was taken aback because every month his pay slip showed that NIS was being deducted from his salary.

He has since informed the company that it owes him over $100,000 in payments.

Anderson said too that thousands of dollars were taken out from his salary for two certificates -First Aid and Defensive Diving – but he never received them.

A third driver Shelvin Hercules repeated a similar story to Kaieteur News.

However, despite admitting that it remitted payments to NIS late, CTLS said that it is “committed to the highest ethical standards of business and care for employees” and claimed that some allegations mentioned in the article are inaccurate.

“We wish to clarify that the employees referenced in your article resigned on their own accord and were never fired”, CTLS stated.

Kaieteur News had also labeled the company as a Nigerian one that might be linked to US$13B bribery scandal in Nigeria.

CTLS has refuted this by stating that it is owned by a Guyanese but partners with a foreign company, “Century Group International for the sole purpose of knowledge and technology transfer”.

“Partnerships of this nature facilitate knowledge and technology transfer to local companies like CLTS, as we build capacity to be able to participate in the oil and gas industry,” the logistics company contested.

CTLS specializes in a variety of logistical services, including “transportation, property management, immigration and procurement to several oil and gas companies”.

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• CTLS, delays, employees, investigation, NIS, payments

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