And while Augustus hopes to get her severance package from the ministry, 12 ACC teachers are hoping to get back the money they claimed was illegally docked from their salaries. These teachers are missing thousands of dollars in some cases and have since retained the services of attorney Orson Elrington.
Via Zoom, Elrington explained that the teachers were not told the money would be deducted and the proper process was not followed. He added that while the managing authority of the school is not quick to reimburse them, they are quick to add to their workload.
Orson Elrington, Attorney
"In short it is that the teachers are of the belief that there were deductions made from their salaries which did not comport with what is the accepted standard and operating procedures to have done so. And therefore, it was illegal null and void. There was an oral commitment from the managing authority to the teachers that if the government of Belize did not dock their pay for the previous month - we are not talking about this pay period in which the government said that they would take away from the subvention. We are talking about the previous pay period and there was an oral commitment first and foremost from managing authority that there would be no deductions if government did not make those deductions and in deed those deductions were not made for that pay period according to the government of Belize and so it is the position of the teachers that if government did not make those deductions then there was no need for them to deduct from their pay for that pay period."
"This is a significant cut. For some it would amount to maybe over a thousand dollars over $1,700 pay cheque for the month, so you can imagine how significant that is and how that would affect the ability for these teachers to function. So obviously it is something which is of dire concern of urgency for them. Regrettably the management does not seem to have the same urgency in resolving this matter as the teachers and I would think that that would be understandably so. These teachers are our over a thousand dollars in some circumstances and on the other hand there is a request from the management for there to be what is called a learning recovery plan, basically to bring the students up to mark where they should be and that would require that the teachers go in and have classes as you know during a period for which there has been instruction from the government that face-to-face learning should come to an end and so all of these things are in contention."
While the teachers are more than willing to assist the students in this capacity, it is important to them to first get reimbursed.
