Faulty online system the major factor behind work permit backlog

One of the general consensuses emerging from the stakeholders meeting about the issues faced at the Labour Department is that the transition to an online application platform last year has caused a severe backlog in processing work permits.

The Acting Labour Commissioner Michelle McLean said the backlog emerged around July 2021 when the department closed for a few days because of COVID-19. She said the system was launched shortly after but the department experienced some technical difficulties with this new system and that created a further backlog.

“We are working on a system when you upload the information, sometimes it disappears. We are working on a system where we must physically print every paper that you submit to the department. It is time-consuming,” McLean explained.

Labour Minister Vincent Wheatley said if going back to manual will alleviate the current issue then he is willing to do it ‘grudgingly’.

“If it is going to help in anyway, take a day or two off the process then I am willing to do it for a certain period of time. But I do not think the manual is the way to go as we modernise and go into an electronic era. But if it is going to help right now, I will grudgingly say, ‘let us do it’,” Wheatley stated.

He further said the online system was designed and implemented to solve the current issues the department is facing.

“Once the online system is not doing what it is supposed to, then these problems will persist. Someone did suggest earlier that maybe we should remove it altogether and get it out of the way until we get the system fully configured and properly done. I say I am prepared to take that suggestion very seriously. If that is causing the main problem of the backlog and choking off and so forth, then let us do it,” Wheatley continued.