NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (September 05, 2022) — As of September 01, 2022, non-established (NE) workers in the Public Service on Nevis will benefit from a Non-Established Retirement package.
Hon. Mark Brantley, Premier of Nevis made the announcement at his recent monthly press conference noting that the relief package is good news for the non-established workers.
“The policy will apply to workers who retire at the age of 62 provided that the employee would have served 10 continuous years in the Public Service.
“If the employee resigns after at least 10 years of continuous service he/she will receive a gratuity only. If the employee resigns after 15 years of continuous service, he/she will receive a gratuity upon resignation and receive a pension when he/she reaches age 62.
“Where an employee becomes permanently incapacitated and unable to engage in gainful employment, he/she may retire and receive his/her benefits from the retirement scheme.
“Where an employee dies in the course of his/her employment after at least 10 continuous years of service, the beneficiaries of his/her estate will receive his/her gratuity only.
“Non-established workers who are already in the Public Service and cannot achieve 10 continuous years of service before reaching the age of 62, will be given a compassion gratuity…
“Non-established workers will continue to receive their holiday pay but the honorarium which would normally be paid in December of each year will be discontinued effective the 1st of January, 2023.
“The maximum number of years for retirement calculation will be 400 months or 33 1/3 years,” he said.
The Premier described the relief package as a comprehensive policy put in place for non-established workers. He expressed the view that the move is a significant one for the island.
“I believe that that is a huge step forward for the island of Nevis and I am proud as Premier of Nevis that my government has been able to deliver on this particular commitment to our NE workers.
“Of course, we await to see what will happen on our sister island of St. Kitts and at some point, we look forward to perhaps aligning ourselves with what is proposed there but we could not continue to wait, and as we indicated, at the time you recall of the salary increases we indicated that we would be doing something on September 1st for the NE workers, and we have worked over the past three months under the leadership of [Mr. Wakely Daniel, Permanent Secretary in the Premier’s Ministry] to make this happen,” he said.
Mr. Brantley used the opportunity to thank Mr. Daniel and other members of the team who were charged with putting together the retirement package in three months namely: Dr. Ernie Stapleton, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works and Labour; Mr. Colin Dore, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance; and Mr. Edson Elliott, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Human Resources and Mr. Gary Liburd, Senior Manager of the Nevis Branch of St. Christopher and Nevis Social Security Board.
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