Minister of Labor and Social Security (15.06.2020) The Minister of Labor and Social Security signed a directive that allows employers to request an extension of the measure to suspend their employment contracts due to the pandemic by COVID-19. The MTSS-DMT-CIR-5-2020 directive allows employers to request the extension of the initial period of three months for up to an additional equal period, as long as the impact on the economic turn of companies is maintained.

Ministry of finance (17.07.2020) Starting this July, the National Treasury of the Ministry of Finance will apply to pensions higher than ¢ 2,296,000 corresponding to the National Pension Directorate, Pension Board of the National Teaching Staff and the Ex-Presidents Regime, the deduction for special solidarity and redistributive contribution, established by Law No. 9796 (“Law to Redesign and Redistribute the Resources of the Special Solidarity Contribution”).   

The New York TImes (22.07.2020) The  US government committed to purchase 100 million doses of a not-yet-finished vaccine. The private sector buys most vaccines in the United States, not the government.“We’re trying to make sure access for all Americans is equal,” said L.J. Tan, chief strategy officer at the Immunization Action Coalition. “The best way to do that is to make vaccines free for everybody.” The U.S.

UN/DESA Policy Brief #82 (14.07.2020) All social protection systems are designed to respond to shocks since, in addition to addressing chronic conditions, they are meant to address acute events that negatively impact individuals and households. However, some systems respond better than others. Typical life cycle events, related to the loss of jobs or illness, usually only affect some households at the same time. Standard social protection systems are set to respond to these individual or household-level shocks.

Time (23.07.2020) Temporary basic income payments could stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic by allowing the world’s poorest people to stay at home, according to a new report from the United Nations Development Programme.

• The distancing measures deployed by South Africa impose large reductions in wage income particularly for low-skilled workers.
• Initial lockdown policies will jeopardize the food security of low-income households dependent on labor income.
• The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic illustrate the value of transfer policies that support vulnerable households.

The International Section on Prevention in Transportation, together with its member BG Verkehr, has produced five fact sheets on Covid-19 protective measures for various transportation sectors in six languages.

loopnewsbarbados.com (21.03.2020) For those employers who are prepared to retain three-quarters of their workforce even if some are on short-week, they can defer the employers’ contribution for three months in the first instance with a preparation to extend for another three months if the crisis goes beyond.

nib-bahamas.com (21.07.2020) The National Insurance Board, after consultation with the Ministry of Finance, is pleased to advise that the Government Unemployment Extension Programme will be extended to persons whose last day at work was Friday 13 March, 2020. Our previous pre-enrolled customers included only those persons who were laid off after the lockdown as at 23rd March, 2020.

nib-bahamas.com (16.07.2020) The National Insurance Board (NIB) will launch a new online portal for eligible individuals to register for the Government-Funded Unemployment Benefit Extension Programme (GovUEBex). Individuals who were unemployed due to the COVID-19 shutdown between March 23 – June 30, and continue to be unemployed, are eligible for the extension programme if they fall under one of four categories: 1. They have exhausted their 13 weeks of NIB’s unemployment benefit (UEB) payments which became payable because of layoffs/termination due to COVID 19. 2.