Social Security highlights benefits

According to the Belize Social Security Board, every month as many as sixty workers file claims for work related injuries. It’s a situation that led the S.S.B. to hold a series of workshops and presentations for the public to get to know their rights and the benefits they are entitled to. Anna Gonzalez, the Belize District Manager at Social Security says both employees and their employers need to know exactly what to do when something goes wrong at work.

Anna Gonzalez, Bz. District Mgr., Social Security Board

“Today as we have expanded our coverage to much more employees out there, and we do have more employers who are complying with Social Security regulations, we find out that, yes there are a lot of injuries that are fraudulent. A lot of people, for example, don’t make a claim to the employer whenever an injury occurs on the job. Within three months when there is acting up of that injury then the employee would report it to the employer. At that point it is really difficult to determine whether this accident, this injury occurred in the workplace or not.”

Janelle Chanona

“I was listening inside and the presenter was saying something like the coverage is so specific thought that if you are going from point A to point B you can’t stop off at a shop before you go home in case something happens there you won’t be covered. Is that true?”

Anna Gonzalez

“That is a debateable issue at this point. I would not say yes you qualify and neither will I say no you do not qualify. It is an issue that we would have to investigate, look into the nature of breaking from point A to point B. It has not been legislated; it is not really a policy as yet. Hopefully, by the end of the year we will have an answer this question of yours.”

“We are making this conscious effort to address both employers and employees on commuting practices, injuries on the workplace to actually reduce these injuries as it affects the entire socio-economy in our country.”