Officials of the Dominica Social Security (DSS) say COVID-19 has caused an increase in payout because of sick leave benefits.
According to Deputy Director of the DSS, Augustus Etienne, the role of the institution is that those who are qualified get their required benefits and they are committed to that obligation.
“Persons who are required to quarantine or isolate because they have either tested positive for the virus or have been in contact persons and so they have to be out of work for a number of days and so the health authorities treat that as being on sick leave,” he said.
Etienne explained that persons are issued with either a letter or sick leave and unlike the early advent of the COVID-19 in Dominica where benefits were minimal that is not now the case.
“The current situation now we are seeing an increase in the number of claims that are coming in and as always when people are out of pocket, we try helping them as much as possible and so we process the claims as quickly as possible,” Etienne posited.
He was not able to give precise figures but said from what he has seen so far over the last time an increase in claims benefits because of COVID-19 is on the rise.