Dear Claudienne

I am a Jamaican and I live overseas. I read your column and am seeking your assistance on behalf of my dad.

My father, GC, worked with Alpart for nine yearss and 11 months from the late 1970s to when the company was closed in the 1980s. His period of employment to Alpart was one month short of the period required for him to have received a pension from the company.

My father’s eyesight is fading so recently surgery was done on one of his eyes in Connecticut, USA. The operation was successful, however, the vision in his other eye is blurry.

My father who resided in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth, is now in a nursing home.

When he came to the US for the eye surgery, he told me that a year or two ago he received a cheque for $1.7 million from Alpart. He doesn’t remember the details, given his age, but insists that he received the cheque for back pay or in lieu of pension, and that it was misplaced or possibly cashed or stolen. He insists that he did not cash the cheque.

He has asked me to contact the new owners of Alpart to find out if the cheque could be replaced.

I am requesting your help to find out from the new owners of Alpart if my father was sent a cheque.

If he was indeed sent a cheque and it was cashed, please inform us who collected the funds.

Since it appears that my father may have misplaced this cheque, could you also find out from the company if the cheque could be replaced.

AC

Dear AC

Alpart said that they did not send your father a cheque for $1.7 milion. Your father, GC, told Tell Claudienne that when he was employed to Alpart he did mechanical work on the turbines at the bauxite company. He said that Alpart sent him the cheque earlier this year. Tell Claudienne has been in communication with the public relations manager at Alpart. He said that when your father’s employment with Alpart ended in June 1982, he was refunded his pension contributions at that time. The human resources manager at Alpart said that Sagicor has oversight of an Alpart Insurance Fund. However, after researching their records, Sagicor told Tell Claudienne that they did not send GC a cheque.

We wish you all the best.

Dear Claudienne

My wife, who was a contributor to the NIS, has died. I am 52 years old and as the widower I applied for the NIS benefit in June 2017.

As the only beneficiary I would like to know how the claim will be apportioned to me. Is it all that she would have contributed to the fund or a percentage?

Also, I was told that for someone under 55 years old there would be a lump sum plus monthly instalments for one year.

CA

Dear CA

After Tell Claudienne contacted the NIS we see that on September 27, the NIS deposited one year’s payment to your bank account for the period 17/02/2017 to 16/02/2018. The NIS stated the following in an e-mail:

“This covers the one year payment due to CA as he is under the age of 55 years. There will be no monthly instalment.”

We wish you all the best.