The Jefferson Cumberbatch Column – How Ill Are You Really?
Esther Byer, Minister of Labour
According to a report in last Friday’s edition of the Barbados Advocate, The Honourable Minister Of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development, Dr Esther Byer, is of the opinion that the time has come for the reform of sickness benefits for employees in Barbados. According to the article, she is persuaded that if that entitlement is to remain a viable option for Barbadians, “greater measures must be implemented to protect it and to stamp out unsavoury practices of inappropriate claims”
The right to sickness benefit for employed persons is part of the ILO Decent Work agenda through the enhancement of the social protection floor that seeks to insulate workers from vulnerabilities and contingencies at work, whether these arise from unemployment, loss of livelihood, sickness or old age.
Barbados has chosen to employ a system of national social security only in this specific regard, unlike some of our regional neighbours who provide for sick pay as an employment right through statutory enactment. For example, section 131 of the Belize Labour Act provides-
“Where any worker who has been employed by the same employer for an aggregate period of not less than sixty days in the preceding twelve months falls ill while in the employment of the said employer, and the illness was not caused by his own default or misconduct, the employer shall grant to the said worker, at his request, sick leave with pay for a period of up to sixteen working days in any twelve months and the employer shall pay the worker in respect of any such period of sick leave at the rate corresponding to his total remuneration over the last sixteen days of his employment with him”.
Cognate legislation is to be found in the British Virgin Islands, The Bahamas, Antigua & Barbuda and St. Lucia.
Any removal of this benefit locally would therefore have a deleterious effect on all workers who may lose income through absence from work because of illness except, of course, those whose terms of employment expressly or impliedly provide for sick pay in that event and those who are covered by insurance policies that indemnify for lost wages. Further, it would place Barbados in a compliance deficit so far as the decent work agenda is concerned.
It appears as if the rationale for the current threat to the status quo is that Barbadians make claims for twice the number of sick days and also twice the sums for payment when compared to the rest of the region. While this actuality may be acknowledged as a clear and present danger to the sustainability of this benefit, it is further contended that it may be owed to the fact that some local doctors issue many more sickness certificates than the average; and that some patients treat the sick days as an entitlement that they frequently use as vacation days and not for genuine sickness.
These two not unconnected phenomena have for long been the seemingly intractable bane of this aspect of the current social security system and it is at least doubtful whether the situation may, or can be arrested anytime soon. First, as it has been put, the issuance of more certificates than an assumed average by some doctors does not necessarily raise a presumption of sharp practice and, even if this were to be established, it would require a contestation of the validity of the certificate; itself a matter of professional medical opinion.
Indeed, in no fewer than two local cases, employers have attempted to challenge the validity of sickness certificates on what would appear to be justifiable grounds, only to fail in both their claims for varying reasons.
In one case, the employee, a telephone operator, presented to her employers a medical certificate of incapacity to work in which the doctor stated that she was suffering from a respiratory tract infection,. When discovered working at a restaurant one evening during the period of sick leave and having admitted that she had worked five of the seven days for which she had been given certified sick leave, she was dismissed for dishonesty.
Her claim for wrongful dismissal was upheld by the magistrate in the lower court and she was awarded $14, 000. On appeal, it was held unanimously by the Court that the employee worked at the restaurant at times when she would already have left work at the employer; that there was nothing to show that the employee was fit to work at the employer’s establishment and that nothing precluded her from engaging in other employment that did not conflict with her duties to her employer. Clearly, establishing that the employee was fit for work would have involved a direct challenge to the certificate; a matter that would have necessitated expert evidence on the nature of the illness.
In the second matter, the employee also presented to the employer a Medical Certificate of Incapacity to work by reason of back pain and that she should be able to resume work in seven days. The employer alleged that during the period of sick leave, the employee stopped in at a hair salon in Bridgetown and braided a client’s hair. She was subsequently terminated on the f ground that she was “guilty of working in spite of being on sick leave”. The employee was held by the Magistrate to have been unjustifiably dismissed. On appeal, their Lordships, citing extensive authority, referred to the probative value of the medical certificate –
“In general, a doctor’s recommendation that an employee take time off work, which is promptly communicated to the employer, is a full defence to dismissal for absenteeism. The employee must, of course, refrain from making misrepresentations as to the medical recommendation and must supply at least basic information about his or her medical situation upon query by the employer…”
Nevertheless, they noted;
However, in some cases, even a doctor’s recommendation or certificate is less than conclusive proof of the bona fides of an employee’s temporary absence from work. (emphasis added)
And later referred to a decision cited by the employer that denied the inviolability of the medical certificate –
“In paragraph 4 the Tribunal seems to have taken the view that since Mr. Hutchinson had produced a sick note it was no concern of the employers to challenge whether or not he was in fact sick. They say ‘it was not reasonable of the employer to go behind that sick note’. To make clear what they mean they go on to say that the employers were not concerned with where he was or what he was doing. That, in our view, is a total misapprehension. The employer is concerned to see that his employees are working, when fit to do so; and if they are doing things away from their business which suggests that they are fit to work, then that is a matter that concerns them. We therefore feel again that the Industrial Tribunal has approached this part of the case also on the wrong basis and their decision cannot stand”.
Although it was not the basis for their final decision, their Lordships regarded the proposition in the cited case as irrelevant, since it was concerned with the unfairness of the dismissal for which there was no equivalent in Barbados at the time of the decision. That position has now been altered however and the case in question remains authority for the proposition that “an employer is entitled to look behind a doctor’s certificate or a self-certificate if he suspects that the employee is not actually ill, misuse of such a certificate being a disciplinary offence”.
Ultimately, the Court did not agree that the mere presence of the employee in the salon while on sick leave constituted an act of dishonesty justifying summary dismissal, leaving open for future decision, “based on appropriate facts, the circumstances in which an employer can go behind a Medical Certificate of Incapacity for Work and summarily dismiss an employee”.
These cases do not deny therefore that the issue remains one of medical evidence if the veracity of the certificate is to be challenged. Statutory provision may now have to be made in this regard if we are to avoid the extreme step of abandoning the scheme altogether. The St Lucia solution may be instructive-
Where there is an issue relating to —
(a) incapacity due to a job related illness or injury leave;
(b) abusive sick leave;
(c) medical certificates issued for the purpose of sick leave, injury at work, illness connected with pregnancy, illness or injury determined to be sufficient for termination of employment in accordance with this Code; or
(c) any other medical matter;
the issue shall be determined by the Tribunal having regard to the recommendation of a medical committee established pursuant to section 428.
Barbados Underground 
I think that the Minister of Labour should also tell us how much money government is using from the NIS Funds, seeing that it’s being used for paying people, and giving to entities like the “all seasons” which is always about to start “soon”!
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Many persons who present certificates of incapacity to work do so because they are genuinely sick and tired of their conditions of work – too much stress in the workplace. Some of them before they go postal take sick leave. Stress is a killer.
In order to prevent this spiralling sick leave, employers should behave more like human beings and less like slave masters.
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@Caswell
Spoken like a true trade unionist but there is some merit in your comment. Treating people with respect and ensuring they have the tools to the job is required to win hearts and minds and therefore feed employee motivation in the workplace.
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No, David. Spoken like a person who sees and knows the work environment in Barbados.
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THIS HUMBUG HERE TELLING PEOPLE WHAT THEY SHOULD DO, CASWELL IS RIGHT ON THE BALL AN YES BYER TELL US HOW MUCH MONEY UR GOVMENT BORROW FROM NIS THESE EIGHT YEAR, BET MY BOTTOM DOLLAR ITS WAY MORE THAN THE LIL SICK MONEY
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Maybe some of these Medical Certificates need to be challenged since the hours of sickness seems only to occur within ‘normal’ working hours as is the case with the young lady who was awarded $14,000. for wrongful dismissal. How can you be given sick time for having a respiratory tract infection only to show up working in a Restaurant of all places. Seem like the legal and medical professions are in cahoots to somehow reduce the ‘productivity’ of the island as a whole.
And Minister Suckoo while trying to reform this mess, please don’t make the Innocent pay for the Guilty. Put your education to use and find a proper balance.
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As a result of (1) our continuing use of an over-precise legal system developed in the UK and intended for the UK, and (2) our inexplicable over-investment in legal education (at a stage in our economic development when we really need more engineers, managers and IT specialists), we waste our time and money splitting hairs about just how.much employee misrepresentation and dishonesty justifies dismissal by an employer.
We are (still) not a wealthy country. We can’t afford all this hand-wringing (aka intellectual masturbation) over simple questions that should be decided at the discretion of an employer, particularly when the ‘big picture’ analytics provide high level evidence of employee misconduct. It’s called rough justice, which is the only justice we can really afford as a society.
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90% of us hate work, we look forward to Friday afternoon and dread Monday morning. For most of us that means taking the occasional day off with various “maladies” but some stretch those maladies into “disabilities”. The Monday morning may mean facing a “Boss” who tries to tell you how to do your job and who can always be counted upon to critique your work as per Company policy with respect to annual or semi- annual performance goals. You should pity those bosses because they likely have a boss who is breathing down their neck and who in turn has a boss who is doing the same. I have on a few occasions had the opportunity to sample the air in the Executive boardroom and although those at the top project an air of bravura they are likely on tenterhooks waiting for some axe to fall – then sans all the benefits that come with those positions. We once had an Executive VP who I thought was doing outstanding things for our division and who had a good rapport with staff from top to bottom until one day that fateful email arrived that Mr.”X” was leaving “Y” company and “we wish him well in his future endeavours” this was after a new Caesar had risen to the top and wished to insert his faithful lieutenants to the coveted offices. Alternatively, on Monday morning we may face a customer who comes loaded for bear and tries to take out their life’s disapointments on the poor sucker across the desk or on the phone, one recipient of such a call told me that the female on the other end said “which doghouse did you get out of this morning” and she put the phone on mute before she responded “your husband’s”, so she achieved some momentary satisfaction.
In Ontario the Gov’t was pushed to abolish mandatory retirement at 65 mainly at the behest of an academic coterie who wished to live off the same benefits with attendant sabbaticals well past their “sell by date” and endure in their air conditioned environment while nary a peep was heard from those who toiled on the factory floors or on the construction site and just wished for that day to come when they can sit back and watch the snow fall from their living room or become ‘snow birds”.
At the entrance of at Auschwitz and other concentration camps the Nazis placed a slogan “Arbeit Macht Frei” literally “work sets you free” and then they gassed all the people who worked in them, the only freedom those people gained was death.
So in answer to the question “how ill are you really’? We are all, we are sick of work.
The author is enjoying a well-deserved “retirement” with private and public pensions and would like to encourage the young folk to continue to support us in our “golden” age.
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The bottomline is that we have to accept these false medical certificates if we do not want BAMP shutting down the operations.
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The Minister ( Is she still foxy, or is this an old picture?) should stop signaling and start acting on the problem she has identified.
Get a team of investigators to set up a sting targeting the doctors who issue the most medical certificates. Tape the encounters with hidden cameras. If fraud is found, broadcast the results on TV and lay charges against the perpetrators. Declare victory.
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BAMP does not shut down the fake medical reports their member doctors forge, or de-register them when they accept bribes from insurance companies to lie on patients/claimant’s true medical condition…which should not only be a criminal act, but perjury when they lie in the supreme court…to a judge.
This is minor in comparison.
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@Chad99999
This Barbados, a small and logically an incestuous society. Somebody is a friend, aunt related in some way. It will never happen in Barbados
On Sun, Aug 28, 2016 at 6:41 PM, Barbados Underground wrote:
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David,
You are wrong again. The population of Barbados in nearly 300,000. That is the population of a medium-sized city. No, we do not know everybody. I never heard about you until I checked my search engine. You may circulate and keep track of what’s happening, but most people are too poor or too busy to do the same.
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@chad99999
You always interpret and translate literally.
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There is story of an employee who forgot his medication at home, and feeling a bit off, he decided to return home for the medication. From the moment he got off his work place premises, he recovered completely.
There are lots of sick workplaces,both physically and mentally.
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Back in the 1980s, I was an immigration officer. One day I reported that person offered me money to destroy two files in the department, and shortly after that I discovered a racket in granting immigrant status. I also reported that. The next thing I know I was transferred to the Inland Revenue Department.
At first, I was given a job of batching claims, which meant that I would sort out the returns. Firstly, I had to put all the returns in two piles one for persons earning less than $25,000 and the other pile for persons over. Then I had to place 50 returns in a folder by letter, not alphabetical order.
After a few days, I started to get some serious stomach pains which started on mornings when I was walking up Broad Street and got in sight of the Treasury Building and they would only subside on evenings when the Treasury Building was at my back. I was not pretending; I went to work every day but no one could have blamed me if I went on sick leave.
Sent from my iPad
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OK so we have a problem with excessive sick leave from employee, Take these same employess and have them employed in an international country one would see how fast and quick they would recover , No joking employers take that kind of excessive behavior as an afront to productivity and show those employees the back door forthwith and it not a dam thing unions can say or do
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Chad 9’s proposes a “sting operation” to target Doctors who issue medical certificates! Wuh loss! Mah belly! First of all the targets would know before the “stingers” left the Ministry and who is going to argue with a Doctor who gave his “professional” opinion on an illness feigned or not?
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This is the thrust of today’s essay, Sarge. If there is indeed malingering, who is to decide this save another person who is medically qualified?
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q. who is going to argue with a Doctor who gave his “professional” opinion on an illness feigned or not?
A THE BIASED JACKASSES WHO FREQUENT BU DAILY TALKING SHITE ABOUT WHAT THEY KNOW NOTHING
In 1982 a man came to see me one Friday midday I did not think he was very ill—–the key word is “very”. I suggested he take the after noon off and if he was not better, he could come to see me on Monday.
On Monday morning we took our car into the garage for a check, and the person in charge told me, mr x who you saw on Friday came in here Friday afternoon with a certificate for a week from Dr Z.
I LEARNED THAT DAY THAT IF DR A DOES NOT GIVE PATIENT X SICK LEAVE, HE WILL PAY DR B FOR THE REQUIRED SICK LEAVE
When Orville Durant became COP, morale was high in the polIce force. During that time there was a pandemic of something going around, and the police refused sick leave, stating that they already had low numbers at the station.
By the time DURANT RESIGNED IT WAS COMMON FOR POLICEMEN TO COME SEEKING SICK LEAVE
Q
HOW CAN A TOTAL MEDICAL ILLITERATE DECIDE THAT A SICK LEAVE CERTIFICATE IS FALSE?
A IF HIS ALREADY BETZPAENIC BRAIN IS FILLED WITH FAECES.
A SICK LEAVE CERTIFICATE STATES……………..IN MY OPINION, I.E IN THE OPINION OF THE WRITER OF THE CERTIFICATE AT THAT POINT IN TIME. SO TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT MORON
ONE STUPID WHITE EMPLOYER PHONED TO ASK ABOUT MY CERTIFICATE
I TOLD HIM THAT I HAD EARNED THE RIGHT TO WRITE ON THOSE FORMS AND SLAMMED THE PHONE IN HIS EARS.
IT SHOULD BE HILARIOUS TO READ THE CONTINUED REALMS OF SHITE THAT WILL BE POSTED HERE BY A NUMBER OF FOLK WHO DONT HAVE A CLUE ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE TALKING……………UNLESS WUNNAH HAVE BEEN ACCUSTOMED TO BUYING OR PAYING FOR”FALSE” SICK LEAVE CERTIFICATES
NEXT WUNNAH IGNORANT EXPERTS WILL BE OPINING ABOUT “FALSE” DEATH CERTIFICATES
WE ALL READY HAVE A CORONER QUESTIONING A PATHOLOGISTS REPORT
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NONE OF YOU HERE HAVE HAD TO SPEND/WASTE TIME TRYING TO CONVINCE A PATIENT THAT THEY DO NOT NEED SICK LEAVE…..NONE OF YOU.
DO YOU THINK THAT MANY DRS IN A PACKED PRIVATE CLINIC WILLSPEND/WASTE TIME TRYING TO CONVINCE A PATIENT THAT THEY DO NOT NEED SICK LEAVE?
I DID IT IN THE POLYCLINICS
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As usual, Jeff is out to lunch. Since when are these decisions up to doctors alone?
When sick leave and medical treatment decisions have to be made under Workers Compensation insurance in North America, doctors letters are ignored or overruled all the time, because there is always doctors who will authorize sick leaves that are too generous. Many employers steer employees to their own massage therapists and/or doctors, who will keep the employer’s interests in mind.
Insurance company managers and government bureaucrats routinely overrule medical treatment decisions doctors make under Medicaid or Medicare or private health insurance plans.
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@chad99999
A question to be asked is why organizations point employees to company doctors and or ask for two opinions.
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Sargeant,
You are full of it. If I were the Minister I would hire a Big Four accounting firm and a private investigator to carry out three or four sting operations in the same week. The doctors wouldn’t be tipped off and the situation would be addressed.
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“When sick leave and medical treatment decisions have to be made under Workers Compensation insurance in North America, doctors letters are ignored or overruled all the time, because there is always doctors who will authorize sick leaves that are too generous…”
Chad, whois out to lunch? Have you any notion that US decisions are not binding locally…or are you just talking “per anum” as usual? Did you read…and understand what I wrote? We have our own decisions!
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(3) An employer may, on processing a claim for sick leave by an employee, require such employee to be examined by an independent physician and may refuse such leave if the physician is of the opinion that the employee is fit for work.
Employment Act 2001 (The Bahamas)
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Jeff,
I am not arguing with you about the laws that apply in Barbados or any other Caribbean island. I am not a lawyer.
I am telling you what goes on in North America because North American practices are reasonable standards for Barbados to follow.
That is, if changes are being considered to a system in Barbados that the Minister says is not working, then North American practices should be part of the debate.
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No argument, Chad, but the US practice, I am sure, is backed by law. We cannot act similarly in the absence of similar laws.An employer cannot simply ignore a sick leave certificate here.
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No, but it is easy for the employer to provide a retainer to a medical clinic with a physical therapist, and ask the employee to seek a second opinion at that clinic. Most employees would not refuse such a request, even if they have the legal right to do so.
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@Chad9’s
What sting operation? You’ve been watching too much TV, people are not automobiles that you can pull a plug or wire and wait to see if the mechanic spots the problem. When people report issues to Doctors the doctors have to go on their word, the Doctor can’t up and order tests to determine if the patient is malingering. Any Doctor would make mincemeat of any “investigator” who reported that the Doctor was providing medical certificates for people who were in good health.
The first question to the investigator “Where did you get your medical training?”
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@Jeff C
Doctor/Patient confidentiality is also a factor, if an employee has been a patient of Dr. X the Doctor may have been in possession of information that the employer is unaware of, during my last few years at my old employer we dispensed with medical certificates because they breach the employees’ privacy. If the employee was away from the office for more than three days an outside firm was contracted by the Company to contact the employee to determine when that employee would be returning to work, and it proceeded from there. If employees accumulated too many casual absences, they were subject to denial of bonuses or they were not considered for other jobs within or outside the Dept. as the hiring manager could see their attendance record and act accordingly. That carrot and stick approach usually worked but there were exceptions. For long term absences (Short Term Disability) the employee would be requested to see the Company doctor to confirm the opinion of the attending physician. This was only for one Corporation but I think the others of similar size may have the same regulations.
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Chad obviously is not familiar with HIPAA. ..instituted in the early 2000s….this is taken very seriously.
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https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/pubs/guide/emergency.php
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Sargeant,
You are clueless.
Scenario 1 :The investigator telephones the doctor’s office and asks for a letter authorizing sick leave. The doctor is in a hurry and merely asks him how much time he needs to take off, then tells him there is a fee of $10 to prepare the letter. The investigator agrees to pay and money changes hands the same day when the inveztigator picks up the letter at the doctor’s office. Everything is on tape. The doctor is in trouble because he has no medical basis for his authorization.
There are many variations of this basic scenario. If the doctor merely eye balls the investigator without conducting any tests, a skillful Crown prosecutor can make the doctor look like a fraud or a lazy, incompetent professional. What is the basis for giving five days off instead of three? Most doctor’s could not justify any difference merely on the basis of a brief diagnostic interview and a cursory inspection of the investigator’s appearance.
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How many recall when 200 police officers reported sick (and submitted sick certificates) in the same time period a few years ago. It was dubbed a ”sick out”.
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Notice Hants provides a reference, but it is about UNPAID leave.
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Chad 9’s
You are entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts, to support your ‘sting’ scenario you introduced an element that wasn’t part of the discussion. Could you direct me to any suggestion in the article that Doctors were issuing medical certificates for any number of days purely on the basis of a phone call and with only a cursory examination? Of course this clueless individual knows that your take on this is purely speculative and calls for a conclusion based on hearsay as my legal friends would say.
Now you have a Crown attorney cross examining a Doctor about the number of sick days he/she provided to a patient, somebody tell Perry Mason his job is safe.
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The scenario I outlined is realistic. I have never had to submit to any tests to get a doctor’s excuse in Barbados.
In the hands of a TV producer, an investigator, and a skillful Crown attorney, a doctor’s reputation can be rubbished overnight if he is abusing the system by ‘helping’ client employees take sick leave.
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http://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/reports/labour_standards/sick_leave.page#h2.1
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I believe now emerging in the big cities are individuals who hold dual designations of Doctor of Medicine and Attorney-at-Law., and are said to be bitterly hated by other Doctors,as well as Lawyers.
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@David
I was employed by a Federally Regulated Company here are the standards:
http://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/jobs/workplace/employment_standards/labour/leave.page
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Some rich benefits there Sarge.
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RE There are many variations of this basic scenario. If the doctor merely eye balls the investigator without conducting any tests, a skillful Crown prosecutor can make the doctor look like a fraud or a lazy, incompetent professional. What is the basis for giving five days off instead of three? Most doctor’s could not justify any difference merely on the basis of a brief diagnostic interview and a cursory inspection of the investigator’s appearance.
I WOULD LIKE TO MEET SUCH A CROWN PROSECUTOR, DUMMY
N:B A CROWN PROSECUTOR IS JUST ANOTHER MEDICAL ILLITERATE LIKE THE USUAL DAILY BU POSTER
“If the doctor merely eye balls the investigator without conducting any tests” LOL LOL MA BELLY. WHAT WOULD TESTS PROVE SUH? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHY TESTS ARE DONE?
YOUR HONOUR I EYE BALED THE PATIENT FOR 5 SECONDS SO HE GETS FIVE DAYS
ITS 14 DAYS FOR A 14 SECOND EYEBALL. EXTRA TIME FOR TESTA YA HONOUR. FIRST I HAVE TO WAIT FOR RESULTS OF THE FIRST BATCJ OF TESTS TO COME BACK FROM THE LAB BEFORE I EPEAT THE TESTS IN CASE THERE WERE A FALSE NEGATIVE SO I COULD ADD MORE TESTS
BARE SPORT IN THE RUM SHOP
YOUR HONOUR I GAVE THE MAN PROCTALGIA FUGAX CAUSE THAT IS WHAT HE WAS. NOW TEST HIM AND TELL ME THAT HE DOESNT HAVE THAT
MOCKING IN THE BU RUM HOP TOO SWEET
COME FALLAS POST MORE BULL SHIT
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Georgie Porgie,
You are the dummy. Get over yourself. You are not an Annointed One because of some medical degree. We are not impressed. And neither would any competent Crown attorney. Every Tom Dick and Harry is a medical doctor these days, even the bottom of the barrel students who couldn’t pass A Levels have somehow persuaded UWI, and various Caribbean diploma mills to grant them medical degrees.
As for your claim that we are “medically illiterate”, that is hardly the case. Courts will certainly evaluate the process that leads to the issuance of a doctor’s letter authorizing sick leave.
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I don’t hate work. I cannot imagine a life without it, I have refused sick leave and had my doctor insist that I needed it to recover from bronchitis. I have returned to work before my sick leave was up after a vehicular accident. But I have also had sick leave due to stress on one occasion when I just couldn’t face that environment. And I too have had the stomach cramps at the mere thought of going into what was essentially a war zone. I know others who have experienced it. There will always be some who work the system but in tense work environments a rest can save one from a mental breakdown. Which would be more costly?
We have a tendency to discount the mental aspect of illness. Silly, really when we have already acknowledged that stress is a killer.
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The Canada Labour Code cited by Sargeant covers only an estimated 6% of Canadian workers: basically banks, transportation and telecommunication companies, perhaps the Federal civil service.
The sick leave benefits available to most Canadian workers are not generous.
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The Georgie that is Porgie
Why are you always so dogmatic about a profession which has done too little to advance society.
You speak as though modern medicine is god’s gift to man
Every year hundreds of thousands of people, in the USA, die from medical error.
Of course, in Barbados the statistics are unlikely to be much different, given population size.
And we could go on and on adumbrating the structural weaknesses in your ‘bad medicine’.
How this whole construction is controlled by big money interests which care not an #uck about anything other than money. You slavishly represent it.
For you, only allopathic modalities have any credence.
We humbly suggest that instead of being as dogmatic as you always are, you should beg your Lord’s forgiveness for the exploitation of the people by snake oil salesmen (medical professionals) acting on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry.
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the saying that a bajan has a short memory must be indeed true if we are seriously discussing a pronouncement probably made as usual off the cuff and without empirical evidence by a Minister who after eight years in a post has yet to grasp the rudiments of her job.
“According to the article, she is persuaded that if that entitlement is to remain a viable option for Barbadians, “greater measures must be implemented to protect it and to stamp out unsavoury practices of inappropriate claims” Pure rubbish if she has been quoted correctly
What is an inappropriate claim?
How will such claims be identified?
What does she mean when she says that if the entitlement is to remain a viable option?
Sickness benefit is not an option; it is an entitlement under the National Insurance Act and Benefit Regulations as long as the appropriate contributions are made.
Observe that most commentators in targeting the medical profession have already painted all doctors with the same brush akin to Heather’s comments about the Royal Barbados Police Force in a previous article and for which she endured much criticism.
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statistics should be taken seriously and not rubbished for a pure political stance
During the discussions, Carrington shared startling statistics, albeit from 2009, that showed 533 doctors had issued 49,555 certificates totaling 561, 000 benefit days over a 10-month period. He said the claims cost the NIS $30 million, well in excess of the $28.6 million budgeted for that entire year.
And if that was not enough, Carrington pointed out that the NIS in Barbados got claims for twice the number of sick days and also made twice the payout when compared to the rest of the region.
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Doctors issuing bogus medical certificates commit two offences: one criminal and one professional. The criminal offence is obtaining by false pretences, issuing a medical certificate with the intention of misleading the authorities; and, the professional one, is bringing the profession in to disrepute.
We must also do something aabout those doctors who issue false medical certificates allowing people to go on a so-calld sick-out. Any such doctor should be prevented from practising until there has been a disciplinary hearing.
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It is obvious Minister Byer was not seized of the information Jeff detailed in his column. A better approach by the minister would have been to meet with the BAMP behind closed doors and discuss solutions. In the litigious society we find ourselves dealing with soft issues as a bull would in a Chinashop was not wise. As a medical doctor she should know better.
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Dr Byer-Suckoo’s call for reform came on the heels of a private meeting involving the Director of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) Ian Carrington, and President of the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) Dr Abdon DaSilva.
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Note BU stated coming up with solutions. Byer coming public about this matter has been done by practically all her predecessors with zero change effected.
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There is the opportunity to map what data is available to inform public discussion. For example we are hearing that Barbados has the incidence of Lupus in the world. We add NCDs and we see what I possible. We need to inform the discussion with relevant data.
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Her coming up with said information is part of good govern translating to transparency. Her solutions in part are stated by the facts given where she states initiatives as to the numerous sick leaves would be acessed accordingly
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It always seems to me that Byer says the same things regarding the same legislations that are supposed to be implemented every couple months…there never seems to be anything new, encouraging or exciting.
Am sure the other party said the same things about the same legislations for over a decade without actually implementing anything, just like the current nuisances in parliament.
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When people in charge keep coming to the public with problems as if it is somebody else’s job to fix them it makes them look bad.
Shiite!!
It is even worse than coming with stupid, ill-conceived ‘solutions’ that cannot withstand even basic scrutiny.
This woman is so shallow that it is embarrassing…..
…and to think she is a doctor….
Shiite though!!!
…anybody watched Froon on CBC last night giving the DLP conference address…?
Our ass is grass…!!!
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you are correct BUSH TEA, the public cant do one thing about this matter except talk shit because the public does not know about it —except for the times they bought sick leave certificates
none of you have ever had the opportunity to try to persuade a patient that they did not need sick leave
most 0f you in the shoes of any busy GP would give the sick note and forego the argument
most of you come here every day in complaining mode and with knowledge of everything about everything—it is hilarious, but none of you are or have been doctors
most of you seem to have and to be proctalgia fugax
most of you do not know how many folk in barbados go to work sick because they fear losing their job
next we see mr porcine facies with his usual porcine faeces
Hal Austin August 29, 2016 at 5:36 AM #
Doctors issuing bogus medical certificates commit two offences: HOW DOES THIS IDIOT DECIDE THAT A CERTIFICATE IS BOGUS? DOES HE LOOK IN A MIRROR?
one criminal and one professional. The criminal offence is obtaining by false pretences, issuing a medical certificate with the intention of misleading the authorities; HOW WILL YOU PROVE THAT? THE CERTIFICATE IS AN OPINION OF THE DR AS STATED BY THE CERTIFICATE. DO YOU HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE TO REFUTE THE MAN’S POSITION, OBSERVATION CONCLUSION
and, the professional one, is bringing the profession in to disrepute.
We must also do something aabout those doctors who issue false medical certificates WHAT IS A FALSE MEDICAL CERTIFICATE FOOL? THIS IS AN OXYMORON
allowing people to go on a so-calld sick-out. Any such doctor should be prevented from practising until there has been a disciplinary hearing. WHAT AN EMOTIONAL PIECE OF FAECES! LETS SEE YOU AND YOUR ILK DO IT MORON
I GAVE UP PRACTICING TO TEACH BASIC SCIENCES BUT IF I HAD TO BE A SICK LEAVE DR NO MEDICAL ILLITERATE COULD CONFOUND ME
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS WRITE PROPER NOTES
E.G 1 HAL AUSTIN PRESENTED WITH HIS PORCINE FACIES
2 HE WAS SPEWING PORCINE FAECES
DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS
1 HE IS A PIG
2 HE HAS PORCINE ENCEPHALITIS
INVESTIGATIONS SENT OF SERUM TO CAREC
TO BE SEEN IN THREE WEEKS FOR REPEAT SAMPLE TO SEE IF THERE IS A RISE IN TITRE
PLAN SICK LEAVE TO PREVENT THE POPULACE UNTIL A DEFINITIVE DIAGNOSIS CAN BE MADE
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Caswell Franklyn August 28, 2016 at 4:20 PM #
AT ANY POINT IN TIME MOST PEOPLE SEEN BY DRS ARE ANXIOUS OR DEPRESSED
NEARLY ALL ILLNESS IS ACCOMPANIED BY THESE TWO SYMPTOMS/MALADIES
I CAN SEE THAT MOST FOLK IN BARBADOS TODAY AND SINCE 20008 HAVE SERIOUS ANXIETY/DEPRESSION WHICH DRIVE THEM TO THE DRS IN DROVES WITH A HOST OF UNEXPLAINABLE SYMPTOMATOLYGY
BUT THE UNTRAINED AND UNLEARNED AND INEXPERIENCED BU OPINERS BRAY
MOST HILARIOUS
@ Donna August 28, 2016 at 11:12 PM #
I don’t hate work. I cannot imagine a life without it, I have refused sick leave and had my doctor insist that I needed it to recover from bronchitis. I have returned to work before my sick leave was up after a vehicular accident. But I have also had sick leave due to stress on one occasion when I just couldn’t face that environment. And I too have had the stomach cramps at the mere thought of going into what was essentially a war zone. I know others who have experienced it. There will always be some who work the system but in tense work environments a rest can save one from a mental breakdown. Which would be more costly?
We have a tendency to discount the mental aspect of illness. Silly, really when we have already acknowledged that stress is a killer.
YOUR POST IS VERY ACCURATE
WHAT YOU HAVE DESCRIBED ABOVE IN EVERY POINT IS WHAT I OBSERVED BETWEEN 1979 AND 2001 WHEN I PRACTICED IN BIM
PATIENTS REFUSING SICK LEAVE
PATIENTS RETURNING BEFORE THE TIME GIVEN
MANY PATIENTS UNDER STRESS AND I CAN IMAGINE THE SITUATION WITH THE DLP INDUCED STRESS OVER THE PASS YEARS 2008-2016
BUT NOW NERVOUS BREAKDOWNS ARE NOT THE RESULT OF THE STRESS IT IS SUDDEN DEATHS
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@ ac August 29, 2016 at 5:07 AM #
“statistics should be taken seriously and not rubbished for a pure political stance
During the discussions, Carrington shared startling statistics, albeit from 2009, that showed 533 doctors had issued 49,555 certificates totaling 561, 000 benefit days over a 10-month period. He said the claims cost the NIS $30 million, well in excess of the $28.6 million budgeted for that entire year.
And if that was not enough, Carrington pointed out that the NIS in Barbados got claims for twice the number of sick days and also made twice the payout when compared to the rest of the region.”
Isn’t it paradoxical amazing that the same man you are referring to can so convincingly compile statistics about the cost of sick leave- to which the claimants had already contributed in advance- but is still professionally incapable to produce reliable financials for the same fund(s)?
Why should we rely on those statistics compiled to find a scapegoat for the financially sick NIS which the present administration has been using as its ‘private’ piggybank to shore up its cash-flow challenges?
Since you yourself are so surprisingly competent in another area of lies called statistics (based on your calculations which show that the current level of the national debt of over $12 billion is a direct result of the current administration having to borrow $7 billion to repay the $5 billion the previous BLP administration incurred and refused to bring to book) we are surprised you have not concluded that these excessive sick claims are as a direct result of the doctors support of the BLP in its attempt to undermine and bring down your dear loving party’s administration.
You might be on more statistically solid ground if you could establish a correlation between the increase in the number of sick claims and the shocking increase in the cost of living with the concomitant decrease in the standard of public hygiene and public health as a result of the massive piles of stinking garbage ‘beautifying’ Bim as seen through the inured eyes of the low class incompetent jackasses currently managing the former gem of the Caribbean.
Let your administration continue to play Russian roulette with public sanitation and you will soon see not only a total collapse of the NIS but also your one beautiful country becoming a cordon sanitaire to the potential visitors to your imaginary Hyatt Babel tower but a pariah to state to the rest of the world.
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@Bushie
Byer can’t be that shallow, she is a doctor for crissakes.
>
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Statistical facts should be relevant to the issue. Furthemore no where in Byer Suckoo statement did she ask for public solutions
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There are doctors and there are doctors.
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The people of St George South found her shallow and voted accordingly
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millertheannunaki August 29, 2016 at 9:24 AM #
YOU ARE 100 % CORRECT MAN
MEN LIKE CARRINGTON HAVE PLAYED THEY INVESTIGATION THIS SICK LEAVE MATTER FOR ABOUT 20 YEARS NOW ALMOST………ALL TO NO AVAIL
THE MAN WAS UPSET TO LEARN THAT THE GUVMENT PROVIDES DR FOR POLICE FIREMEN AND PRISON OFFICERS………….WITHOUT KNOWING THAT PREVENTING THEM FROM GETTING SICK LEAVE ELSEWHERE WAS THE INTENT OF THAT PLOY
chad99999 August 28, 2016 at 10:35 PM #
NO MORON You are the dummy AND“medically illiterate”, . I IMPRESSED MANY IN THE LOCAL COURTS IN THE 80;S AND 90’S
RE Every Tom Dick and Harry is a medical doctor these days, even the bottom of the barrel students who couldn’t pass A Levels have somehow persuaded UWI, and various Caribbean diploma mills to grant them medical degrees.
I KNOW SOME GOOD DRS WHO WENT TO PREMED AND BECAME DRS AND THEN WENT ON TO BE SURGEONS . OBSTETRICIAN AND GYNAECOLOGISTS AND MEDICAL CONSULTANTS
DO YOU KNOW THAT HAVING” persuaded and various Caribbean diploma mills to grant them medical degrees, THAT SUCH DEGREES ARE USELESS ANYWHERE UNLESS THE RECIPIENTS PASS THE USMLE STEPS 1 2 AND 3.
RE Courts will certainly evaluate the process that leads to the issuance of a doctor’s letter authorizing sick leave. THIS IS BULLSHIT. WHY ARE THEY NOT DOING IT ALL LIKE NOW, IDIOT
WHY DON’T YOU COME AND MOUNT A “STING”
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For instance, never mind GP’s manner here or rather because of it, I am willing to bet that we have lost a passionate and ethical doctor who unlike those of whom Pacha speaks would have made a positive difference to healthcare. But often these are not the persons who rise to positions of “power” in Barbados because the rest of them want to continue with the nonsense they think benefits them.
Persons who conceive workable solutions and are eager to implement them become frustrated with ignorance and the mess it creates. And hence the attitude.
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by the way not everyone who got sick leave sought compensation from NIS
MOST JUST WANTED TO GET AWAY FROM A PLACE WHERE THEY WERE ANXIOUS DEPRESSED AND FELT TORMENTED
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As for what entitles Chad to his attitude, I am yet to determine that.
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The facts bear out and verify that there are an unprecedented percentage of those employed who are recurring or overusers of sick leave. Facts one cannot argue away. Opinions are like a..ss holes evetybody has one
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GP,
You probably left this place to preserve your own sanity because you have just hit the nail hard and full on its head. My doctor took one look at me and took out the sick leave certificate. If you listen to most Barbadians you will hear their stories. A Jamaican professor gave a lecture to employers in the public and private sectors a few years ago and presented the results of his studies among employees in that island. He found that when workers pushed for pay increases it was often as compensation for being poorly treated and disrespected in the workplace. It really wasn’t about the money in many instances but respect. His findings were an indictment of employer practices in Jamaica and he thought that there was no reason to believe that it was any different in Barbados.
I know a few people who are comfortable in their work environment. They work when the boss calls them from their vacation early and seldom take sick leave even when physically sick.
The cause of excessive sick leave is not always the employee. Sometimes it is the employer. Performance management systems are mostly lacking in Barbados and until we correct that we are doomed to our nightmare on the not so merry-go-round.
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“Many employers steer employees to their own massage therapists and/or doctors, who will keep the employer’s interests in mind.”
On one hand, (A), we are implying that employees pay doctors to grant them certified sick leave for which they may not be entitled, which more or less questions the integrity of those doctors, especially since they sought to “keep the EMPLOYEE’S interests in mind,”
And on the other hand, (B), we are suggesting employers refer their employees to a team of doctors on the employers’ payroll, “who will keep the employer’s interests in mind.” However, in this case, the doctors are DEEMED to be men of INTEGRITY, for offering similar services, as outlined above, to employers.
But, for all intents and purposes, A is partially identical to B. “In the first the fallacy is the indifferent contingency of the conclusion caused by the non-sequitur from a negative premise to an affirmative conclusion.”
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And some people have two! A..ss holes, that is.
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Artax,
I fear that is too high for some to understand. But correct you are. It seems everything must be seen from the perspective of the employer. Reminds me of the perspective of the USA where American lives are spoken off as though somehow more worthy of preservation than all other lives. The white ones, that is.
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Georgie Porgie is a total ignoramus who obviously believes his professional conduct as a physician cannot be questioned by courts.He is dead wrong.
Like any other profession, doctors are licensed to serve society, not the other way around. Ultimately, society decides which doctors are doing a good job and which ones are not. The fact is that in Barbados, the authorities have delegated much of their authority to various professional bodies, so doctors are policing themselves, but that does not change the fact that society, through its “medically illiterate” legislature and it’s “medically illiterate” courts, can evaluate and discipline any doctor we decide is not behaving appropriately.
David’s suggestion that the Minister should quietly negotiate better behaviour behind closed doors is unlikely to work, because bad doctors are usually as arrogant and conceited as Georgie Porgie, and are not easily brought to heel.
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@ ac August 29, 2016 at 10:39 AM
“The facts bear out and verify that there are an unprecedented percentage of those employed who are recurring or overusers of sick leave. Facts one cannot argue away. Opinions are like a..ss holes evetybody has one”
We can guess you are NOT like everybody with one “a..ss hole”. You as a consortium have as many ‘holes’ as a sieve used to grater cassava.
The facts also bear out that there has been a massive pile up of garbage all over Barbados and that the fly, rat and mosquito populations have risen accordingly. Don’t your ‘facts’ also confirm that these same vectors of viruses and other pathogens are the major sources of threats to public health?
The facts also confirm that there has been a ‘significant’ increase in the cost of living for the average Bajan over the last 8 years despite your deceitfully dangerous lying party manifesto commitment to reduce the same cost of living. Oil prices and the cost of electricity have dropped significantly over the past 2 years. Where are these downward adjustments reflected in the prices to consumers who would soon be kicked further in their teeth with a stealth tax called the Social Responsibility levy?
Have you considered that in addition to the rolling or cumulative increases in the cost of goods and services that will be brought about by this so-called social responsibility level there will also a relatively significant increase in the VAT levied on the final prices charged to consumers (not in % terms but certainly in money terms)?
Now tell us, ac, do your ‘manufactured’ facts as listed below justify the description of your party as a dangerous demonic lying propagandistic pied piper to stupid ‘ordinary’ Bajans eminently represented by the ac consortium?
(1) LOWERING THE COST OF LIVING
The Barbados Labour Party administration is ultimately
responsible for the fact that ordinary
Barbadians cannot enjoy a comfortable living in
this country. It is the job of the government and
the role of the state to intervene in the market to
correct failings of the system and re-balance inequities therein.
We have seen a gradual contraction and consolidation
of the import, wholesale and retail distribution
sectors in this country. The BLP administration
sat idly by as small and medium size businesses,
(including black businesses), were forced
out of the sector by bigger players.
A new DLP administration will use the power and
patronage of the government not to disadvantage
existing participants in the distribution sector, but
to allow for new and efficient players to come
into the sector and through increased competition
contribute to the creation of a fair market structure.
We commit to internal liberalization of this
sector to spread the options available to Barbadians.
A new DLP administration will commit to providing
incentives to new and existing small and
medium size players to come into the sector. We
will honour a previous commitment to ensure that
at least 40% of all government’s procurement requests
for goods and services are reserved for
sourcing from small and medium size enterprises.
A new DLP administration will review the basket
of goods on which VAT and other impositions
have been removed. It is obvious that that basket
is too limited and in light of the high incidence
of chronic non-communicable diseases and
the need for healthier eating among the population
something must be done to ease the cost of
foods that fall into these categories.
We commit to expanding that basket significantly, following
full consultation with sector stakeholders, consumer
bodies, and nutritional experts. Equally we
believe that the time has come for a more comprehensive
review of the impact of price movements
in basic food and other items in this country.
Energy costs have risen more often than they have
fallen in the last 2 years and this has driven up
the cost of production. A new DLP
administration will examine the feasibility
of removing the VAT on utility
bills for households and businesses alike.
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Will the minister also be paying attention to the number of days that members of government AND members of the opposition do not attend sittings of the house and also, how many ministers are away from the office during the day and are not in pursuit of official duties? Oh I forgot, that doesn’t matter.
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Most if not all understand the causes of work related sickness however the problems related to sick leave are endemic giving cause for worry and concern as those problems becomes burdensome to govt and eventually passed on to taxpayers.eventually those who should or might have to benefit from the plan might find that there are no benefits from which they are somewhat entitled.
That is the problem.No one is faulting those who get sick for acessing their benefits but a system that has run a mock with unscrupulous characters and a probability of unable to be of service to anyone
But then again yardfowls like to eat nuff nuff scratch grain to satisfy their bellies and their craw
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ac August 29, 2016 at 12:41 PM #
“But then again yardfowls like to eat nuff nuff scratch grain to satisfy their bellies and their craw…”
And this is demonstrated by you, as usual, going all out to defend the DLP. In this case you are defending Esther.
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@ ac August 29, 2016 at 12:41 PM
“No one is faulting those who get sick for acessing their benefits but a system that has run a mock with unscrupulous characters and a probability of unable to be of service to anyone
But then again yardfowls like to eat nuff nuff scratch grain to satisfy their bellies and their craw”
No worker can claim sickness benefit from the NIS unless the period of sickness is certified by a “competent” and registered medical practitioner.
Why blame the workers? Or are you implying there is some kind of unholy alliance scheme between the workers and the doctors to defraud’ the NIS?
Is there also some kind of unholy alliance between the same doctors and the SSA under the astute leadership of Dr. Lowedown to create conditions to make Bajans sick in order to increase their revenue streams and help bankrupt the NIS sickness benefit fund?
Why can’t you see it from another of your yard-fowl cock-eyed angle and realize the Minister is just preparing the wicket to justify a rise in the National Insurance contribution rates as demanded by the IMF the same way the Social responsibility levy was imposed as a done deal of a dose of IMF stringent measures?
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@Miller
Who sends the message to employees / workers they need to share in maintaining the integrity of the social security system?
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@ David August 29, 2016 at 2:40 PM
“Who sends the message to employees / workers they need to share in maintaining the integrity of the social security system?”
The same leaders that are sending mixed messages to the youth about getting babies to ensure the long-term integrity of the NIS especially the contribution-based pension scheme.
Why tell young people to use condoms (promoting the use of contraceptives) while asking the same unemployed youths to have babies they can’t feed or socialize properly? Any message about having babies without the necessary incentives should be targeted at those well-educated career women and men not those who depend on child support payments (cock tax via the courts) from deadbeat sperm donors. Barbados does not need any more children to be born into poverty but more incentives for the working people to provide for their old age and medical care.
The Muslims of East Indian heritage are doing jolly good job of keeping Bim in a steady-state population growth mode.
The political managers of the NIS need to increase both the rates and the level of insurable earnings to say $10,000 per month if the nightmare scenario awaiting the baby boomers which Walter Blackman has so vividly painted is to be avoided or at least mitigated.
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THERE SEEMS TO BE 4 ENTITIES INVOLVED HERE BUT AS USUAL THE BU MORONS CAN NOT EVER MAKE A BALANCED ARGUMENT
1THE DR CAN ONLY BENEFIT FROM ISSUING SICK LEAVE FORMS IF THAT IS A MAJOR SERVICE OF HIS BUISINESS OR AS ONE OF HIS BOOK KEEPING TECHNIQUES. WONT ELABORATE ON THAT, AS THAT IS NOT TAUGHT IN MED SCHOOL LOL
2 IT IS THE PATIENT WHO PAYS THE MOST NIS WHO BENEFITS MOST FROM A SICK LEAVE NOTE I AM TOLD . I AM TOLD THAT MANY IN THE TOP ECHELONS INCLUDING THE POLITICIANS SEEK TO GET BACK MONEY THEY PAID IN TO NIS THIS WAY. GO FIGURE.
MOST OF THE LOWLY PAID PERSONS WHO SEEK SICK LEAVE DO SO IF THEY HAVE A SERIOUS INJURY AND ARE ADVISED BY LAWYERS TO GET A PERIOD OF SICK LEAVE. SUCH FOLKARE OFTEN ALSO BEING HARRASED IN SEVERAL WAYS ON THE JOB INCLUDING SEXUALLY
3 THE EMPLOYERS CMAY TEMPORARILY HAVE TO DO WITH THE SLAVES THEY ARE MISTREATING, UNDER PAYING AND OTHER ISSUES
4 NOW NIS HAS A PROBLEM BECAUSE A- SO MANY FOLK LAID OFF THEIR RECEIPTS ARE LOW, B LOTS OG RICH EMPLOYERS NOT PAYING IN NIS. C NIS THIEF THE MONEY OR OTHERWISE MIS-APPROPRIATED THE USE FOR WHICH THE MONEY WAS INTENDED
THE SCAPE GOAT IS NOW THE DRS WRITING BOGUS SICK LEAVE CERTIFICATES
WHAT I FIND HILARIOUS IS HOW ANY OF WUNNAH CAN DECIDE A SICK NOTE IS BOGUS UNLESS WUNNUH SEE OR LISTEN TO THE PATIENT
NONE OF WUNNAH IS DOC MARTIN ….WHO IS A DIAGNOSTICIAN OF THE HIGHEST ORDER
MILLER millertheannunaki August 29, 2016 at 1:32 PM # YOU HAVE ASKED SOME SERIOUS QUESTIONS WORTHY OF CONSIDERATION
WHAT I FIND FUNNY IS THAT CARRINGTON HAS BEEN LOOKING FOR DRS TO LOCK FOR ABOUT 20 YEARS NOW FOR “BOGUS” SICK NOTES WITH NO SUCCESS. I WONDER
WHY?
Artax August 29, 2016 at 1:31 PM #T
THE PROBLEM IS
1 THE DEMS MISSUSED THE NIS CONTRIBUTIONS
2 THE DEMS LAY OFF LOTS OF PEOPLE OR CAUSED NUFF FOLK TO BE LAYED OFF BECAUSE OF THEIR POOR RUNNING OF THE COUNTRY
3 THIS HAS CLEARLY LED TO A DEFICIT IN FUNDS TO PAY CLAIMS CAUSE NO PAYMENTS ARE BEING MADE BY THE LEGIONS OF FOLK WHO ARE NO LONGER EMPLOYED
I WILL BET YOU ALL I HAVE THAT THE DEMS GETTING/GOT THEIR CLAIMS PAID FIRST
NOW NOTE THAT IN ALL I HAVE SAID ……….I HAVE NOT SAID THAT SICK NOTES ARE WRITTEN BY SOME SYMPATHETIC DOCTORS LOL MURDAH
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Donna
THANKS FOR YOUR KIND REMARKSRE
RE August 29, 2016 at 10:47 AM # Artax,
I fear that is too high for some to understand. But correct you are. It seems everything must be seen from the perspective of the employer.
YOU ARE VERY CORRECT HERE. THAT IS WHY FROM EARLY I USED TO CUSS THEM WHEN THEY CALLED TO QUERRY ANY OF MY SICK NOTES
WAIT SKIPPER I WOULD SAY
I NEVER SAW YOU IN ANY OF MY ORAL OR CLINICAL EXAMS AND BRUGGADOWN PHONE DOWN IN THEIR EARS
AS FOR THOSE WHO RECEIVED SICK NOTES DOING ANYTHING THAT THEY OUGHT NOT TO BE DOING, WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THE DR?
DIAGNOSES ARE MADE 98% OF THE TIME ON THE HISTORY
RE chad99999 August 29, 2016 at 12:07 PM #
Georgie Porgie is a total ignoramus WHO DESIGNED OUR NHS WHICH HAS BEEN COPIED AND EXTENDED USING MY IDEAS PUBLISHED RIGHT HERE ON BU IN 2008
Georgie PorgieKNOWS THAT THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT HIS professional conduct as a physician THAT can be questioned by courts CAUSE HE AINT DO NUTTIN TO BE QUESTIONED .He is dead wrong.
RE Like any other profession, doctors are licensed to serve society,” THIS INCLUDES OCCASIONALLY WRITING SICK NOTES. WHEN THERE ARE EPIDEMICS OF VIRAL ILLNESS OR WHEN THERE ARE EPIDEMICS OF GREAT ANXIETY OR AND DEPRESSION AS CAUSED BY THE DLP GUVMENT SINCE 20008 THE NUMBERS OF SICK NOTES WILL INCREASE
The fact is that in Barbados, the authorities have delegated much of their authority to various professional RE bodies, so doctors are policing themselves, PLEASE KINDLY GIVE US A CURRENT LIST OF THESE DRS WHO ARE POLICING THE DRS SUH
RE but that does not change the fact that society, through its “medically illiterate” legislature and it’s “medically illiterate” courts, can evaluate and discipline any doctor we decide is not behaving appropriately.” MAN YOU MUST SPEND MOST OF YOUR WAGES IN TOILET PAPER TO WIPE YOUR MOUTH AND COMPUTER SCREEN
YOU MAKE AC LOOK LIKE A BDOS EXHIBITION WINNER
RE David’s suggestion that the Minister should quietly negotiate better behaviour behind closed doors is unlikely to work, because bad doctors are usually as arrogant and conceited as Georgie Porgie, and are not easily brought to heel. WHY DON’T YOU GET THE TOP DLP FOLK WHO USE BOGUS SICK LEAVE NOTES TO MEK A MONEY WHEN THEY COULD NOT GET WUK UNDER THE BLP REGIME
YOU WANT ME CALL NAMES NOW?
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We definitely need to teach Georgie Porgie a lesson.
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The Jamaican professor also highlighted sexual harassment as a major source of discontent among workers. So again GP is spot on. The lecture was featured on CBC’s Say it again.
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Sexual harassment is a major cause of discontent among female workers, not male workers.
Like a dog with a bone, so to speak, today’s feminist does not overlook any opportunities to score points against men and take advantage of issues raised in the metropolitan countries by cynical, power-hungry white women looking to make money by filing civil lawsuits against wealthy corporations. What a scam!
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Donna August 29, 2016 at 5:48 PM #
sexual harassment Is a major source of discontent among FEMALE workers ESPECIALLY IN ECONOMIC CLIMATES SUCH AS WE HAVE HAD IN BIM SINCE 2008.
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@ chad99999
Sexism is the moral equivalent of racism.
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When are we going to follow some of the other countries and offer maternity leave to fathers?Perhaps , this question would be best answered by Ministers Jones and Durant.
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Peter Lawrence Thompson,
Your statement is utterly misguided. Women have never been oppressed, and when compared to what has been done in the past to men, they have always received better treatment. When work and travel were difficult and dangerous, they were spared most of the horrors of work and travel. Today, they work mostly in air conditioned offices assisted by computers, while men have to do what’s left of the heavy lifting — mining, forestry, fishing, military combat, even urban garbage collection. These pampered creatures spend our money as well as their own, and never stop complaining and demanding more for themselves than they leave for men to enjoy. What a scam!.
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You need to seek a psychiatrist’s help before you degenerate into a serial killer! You have a warped perspective that is very dangerous. I ask again- what kind of mother did you have? Mine worked really hard and contributed equally to the household. She was the Miss Fix it whilst my father was all thumbs.She NEVER cheated on her husband though he didn’t return that faithfulness. She was rather bossy but that was because she was a perfectionist. She was very difficult to live with because of it but she meant well. She had her issues but she was never a taker and did her share of the dirty work.
There are good men and bad men. There are good women and bad women.
By the way, remind me of the times I was pampered. I seem to have slept through it.
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Not all male bosses sexually harass their female employees. Not one of them was stupid enough to try that with me or any of my friends. But to suggest that this NEVER happens is to deny the blatant preoccupation with sex and power that pervades this society.
Some women will gladly use their “assets” to get a job. Some men will use positions of power to coerce a woman who desperately needs a job or needs to keep her job into granting them sexual favours. Anyone who denies EITHER of these statements cannot see straight and can NEVER give a balanced opinion.
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@ chad99999 at 5:18 PM re “We definitely need to teach Georgie Porgie a lesson” . With statements like this one you display the prevailing personality seen daily here on BU (made wildly famous by D.J.Trump) which is described by the many ‘medical illiterates’ as psychopathic; simply meaning: distinctly antisocial behavior.
What lesson can YOU teach the doc or anyone else when you produce some of the most damning rhetoric on this site, like ” Women have never been oppressed, and when compared to what has been done in the past to men, they have always received better treatment..”
How selective and ridiculous can you actually be and maintain a straight face of rationality???
Women were sexual harassed and professionally dominated in the workplace for ages. They were also out there cutting canes, cleaning the road-ways, hawking their garden provisions and other food-stuff in their cook shops and so on. And quite a few of them would be mothers who then had to go back home and deal with their children and TOO prepare a meal and accommodations for their men.
I may be divorced and may be terribly p’eed off @ my wife and females in general (or not) but regardless I forever appreciate the love, devotion and hard work of my mum and grandmother. So I must temper any anger of the life today with the reality that my memories of yesterday provide.
Thus it is really incredible to read your continuous unbalanced, factually inaccurate female bashing stuff. As the lady Donna noted, there are good and bad actors across the genders.
One can only presume that you are either a direct descendant of the famed Romulus and Remus duo or that like them you had a truly rough childhood…you need some warm thoughts of a granny to infuse your rantings. LOLL.
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DONNA
ONE OF MY FAILURES IN LIFE IS THE OMMISSION TO WRITE DOWN THE MANY STORIES I HAVE HEARD FROM WOMEN WHILE PRACTICING WITH RESPECT TO THE TREATMENT BY THEIR MEN/HUSBANDS
THESE INCLUDE THE VERY PLEASING ONES OF ELDERLY WOMEN WHO OVERCAME BY PRAYER PATIENCE AND PERSEVERENCE AND THOSE LIKE THE YOUNG WOMEN WHO WAS BEATEN TWO SUCCESSIVE SEPTEMBERS FOR APPROACHING HER CHILD FATHER FOR MONEY TO BUY EXERCISE BOOKS
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@ chad99999
You sound very much like Jefferson Davis or a whole host of other historical apologists for slavery… all you have to do is replace the “women” in your rants with “negroes.”
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GP,
If the stories are still in your head you can still write them down. You could even collaborate with a good Bajan author to make it a work of informed fiction. It could tell the story of Bajan women. How about that?
Dribbler,
I know that angry feeling that comes from being mistreated. Thankfully with the Father’s help I am well on the way to a full recovery. I can now see my mistakes and character flaws and immaturity as well as theirs. Relationships are a complex thing and we all have our issues that need some work. We all bring baggage into the relationship.
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dONNA
THE STORIES ARE NOT FICTION AT ALL
BUT I THINK THEY MIGHT INSPIRE WOMEN GOING THROUGH ROUGH TIMES WITH THEIR MEN
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GP, I know they aren’t fiction but I just thought they’d get more readership if presented as a work of fiction based on true stories.
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With his reference to Byer like she is some sex toy, Chad clearly sees ALL females as only good for one thing..being sex toys, he is very warped and the blogger most likely to be seen on the FBIs Most Wanted list ….at some point in time, thankfully we will be spared having to tell anyone that we know him.
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ebay japan
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