When the Caribbean Court of Justice ruled in November that former BTL workers are entitled to severance pay, in addition to pension benefits, provided they met the continuous service requirement of at least 10 years, it caused a ripple effect across the labour sector.
That triggered former, pensionable BTL employees - who were not a part of the suit - to demand their severance payments, and the company agreed they were entitled to it.
Now, BEL's former employees from the energy workers union are also asking, "where is my severance?"
They held a press conference today to air their grievances because they ay their former employer is dragging its feet. Here's some of what they said at today's press conference which was held at the Inspiration Center.
Dorla Staine, Belize Energy Workers for Justice
"Today we stand before you as former employees of Belize Electricity Limited. Workers who gave years of service to this country and to BEL. We are here because we believe our legal rights, specifically our severance entitlements have not been honored. The issue? Short and clear, at the center of the issue is a fundamental legal principle: severance and pension are separate entitlements under the labor act, however, BEL implemented arrangements where pension contributions were treated as being in lieu of severance without clear accounting or transparency. With reference to legal basis, in November 2025 the Caribbean court of justice ruled in a similar matter that severance must be paid as a separate statutory right. Pension contributions cannot replace severance, employers must be able to clearly account for what is severance vs pension."
Sean Nicholas, Belize Energy Workers for Justice
"Not getting my severance put some pressure on me and my family. I am the bread winner for my family, still the bread winner of my family, I am begging and I understand we got a new CEO effective tomorrow, we have a new chairman of the board. I am asking these people to please got some consideration on myself and other employees. I sick around this table with pain and suffering and I am begging you to do workers right."
Dorla Staine, Belize Energy Workers for Justice
"We can tell you so far that we have over 150 members who have come forward seeking an address to this matter. In terms of money we cant say that at this point but it is a considerable sum of money because we are talking workers going way before this pension plan. You have workers who left this company in the 70s in the 80s all the way up. You have workers who left this company who resigned, who did not get a dime neither for severance no pension because when you resign from BEL before the pension plan all you get is any vacation owed and 2 weeks paid so you can see where people would be lined up because those people did not get anything. Those are people who did not go all the way to retirement they just resigned and wanted to do other things with their lives. They left the company but they have worked 10, 15 years, 20 and did get anything."
"We are hoping that they will be honorable and come forward with a response but until then we sit and we go to the table and we will plan other actions and continue to adjudicate to get our payment."
The committee has written to BEL which has told them it will have a response by April 20th. But today BEL issued a release stating, quote, "We initiated a comprehensive review of BEL's severance and pension arrangements to ensure that all claims are considered fairly and thoroughly. Our review extends as far back as 1988, (without prejudice to any position regarding Limitation Period) recognizing that some of the separations in question occurred more than 25 years ago.
Our review confirms that over the years, BEL has paid severance to its employees on their departure as required under the law. Furthermore, since 2007 the Company has explicitly accounted for severance under its Pension Plan in accordance with the law."
