Employees of Belize City Security Firm Takes Employer to Court Over Unpaid Wages

Rissela Dominquez-Patt

Employees of a security firm in Belize City are preparing to take their employer to court over unpaid wages. Information to News Five is that a number of employees from a private law firm that is contracted to secure several government buildings have officially lodged complaints with the Labour Department, after their employer repeatedly failed to fully compensate them for their work. We have been receiving reports about this particular security firm for several months now, but the employees have refused to go public with their complaints for fear of losing their jobs. Well, today we asked Rissela Dominquez –Patt, the Labour Commissioner, about the case. While she is not authorized to release the name of the company to the general public, she did tell us that the Labor Department is working alongside a group of employees from a security firm to resolve their grievances.

Rissela Dominquez-Patt, Labour Commissioner

“I am aware that in the instance with a security firm we had a group of workers that visited the Belize City office and officers assisted these workers to lodge their complaints. Presently what I can tell you is that we are working on preparing court books for these complaints.  When you launch a complaint there is a step that has to be taken. First we call the employer. We send them a letter. If first that does not work then we call them in. If we still do not get response then we would resort to court and ensure that the workers are paid benefits that are due to them. So, at this moment I can tell you that our officers are assisting these workers in preparing these court books to ensure that these workers get paid.”