British Virgin Islands: Immigration’s policy to allow persons time to seek another job in the periods between work has been criticized by some residents who feel that the decision gives expatriate workers an advantage that they should not have, according to a BVInews.com report.
At a labour meeting at the Sir Rupert Briercliffe Hall on Monday, a resident described the movement of employees from one job to another as “an easy slide across” and told Labour Minister, Dr. Kedrick Pickering, that it should not be that simple.
“Some people are actually on their job with their first employer and decide that they don’t like that job and they want to go seek another job and set up things, and then easily just slide across the floor. I don’t think that when you are a non-national you have that right in any country and I think that should be the same thing here in this country… That is the quandary and we shouldn’t be playing around with it because the situation is real,” the man said.
He further told the minister: “I do apologise Mr. Minister that you are finding it difficult to understand the common practice of what is going on in this country. The question is even if somebody is putting a spin on it where a person has lost their job and the employer doesn’t want to deal with that person anymore, does this person, who is a non-national, have the right to literally go and find another job as if being a resident of the country and not follow the rules? The question is do we have rules? What are those rules and shouldn’t those rules be followed with the same principles that they should be from the beginning?”
A female resident asked the minister: “If we are so swamped and so outnumbered and all of that why is it that we have employees who are able to walk about or actually go and work illegally without a work permit and be still entertained?” She told the gathering: “I think it all speaks to the fact that people are allowed to piggyback from one job to the other, instead of having to return home and wait for the new employment and come back to a new employer. I think that is the problem there, otherwise I think the rules and the laws are a mockery that’s what I think.”
The BVInews.com report stated that In response to all that was said, Minister Pickering said the Labour Department has nothing to do with immigration and the granting of time for persons to stay on the island. He explained that the 2010 Labour Code and the International Labour Organization code stipulates that no employee must be subjected to inhumane conditions. To this end Dr. Pickering disclosed that there are certain conditions under which an employee may be able to leave your employment without a penalty. He explained that the law couldn’t be used to enslave people and disclosed that there have been situations where people were found to have been inhumanely treated and were allowed to leave that employment, and were given time to stay in the territory to seek additional employment.
He further explained that the issue was not as clear cut: “If you are in the country for a year and you have a family and your children are in school, it’s in the middle of the school year and you have to take care of your family…If your job circumstances change in the middle of that school year, it is inhumane to tell somebody that they have to get up and leave their family and get out. There are circumstances that dictate that you have to consider individual circumstances…Immigration gives an individual permission to stay in the country for a period of time and on the condition that you are actively seeking employment. If you identify a job and somebody is willing to employ you, labour is then brought into the picture… So you cannot have a work permit card walking around looking for a job… A work permit is given in response to an offer for a job.”
