Leewind staff sent home without pay

The Management of Lee Wind Paints has put staff on notice that they are unable to pay salaries for May and June.
The company also said in a letter dated June 29 that it is temporarily closings its doors.
The letter issued to the employees was signed by the Managing Director Hugh Marshall Sr. and staff were informed that the company had no idea where funds to pay salaries will come from.
In fact, Marshall said in his letter that in the months of February and April, the government, a shareholder, assisted in meeting those salary payments.
But he says it is unacceptable to continue because of an agreement signed October 30, 2014 between the majority shareholder, Renee Phillips and Cosmos Phillips Jr, to transfer shares to the government in exchange for tax arrears.
This exercise would place the government as the majority shareholder.
And Marshall says without these transfers Leewind Paints is unable to raise funds even from the bank as the auditors are unable to certify the transaction and make such report.
He says he had tried to get the government once again to make salary payments but the government has opposed as the shares from the Philips have not been transferred.
The staff were not given a month’s notice as enshrined in law and the company.
The arrears to salary is at two months plus one month in lieu of notice. The same applies to weekly workers where three weeks wages are outstanding and a week’s lieu of notice.
When we contacted Marshall for comment on the matter he asked us where we got the letter, saying we had no business having a copy. He also asked us to refer the questions to whoever it was that gave us the document.
The government is expected to release a statement on the matter soon. The Trade and Commerce Minister Chet Greene could not give us a specific date.
In 2015, the government wrote off $2 million owed in corporation and sales taxes to acquire more shares in the paint manufacturing company.