Salary cuts for displaced Alorica workers
Published:Friday | April 17, 2020 | 12:23 AM
Call centre workers affected by the closure of Alorica’s operations at both its Kingston and Portmore offices because of an in-house spread of the new coronavirus will have to settle for salary cuts.
They were advised through a memo by management that, upon utilising all their available paid time off (PTO), Alorica will provide 25 per cent base salary until further notice.
Paid time off or personal time off is a policy in some employee handbooks that provides a bank of hours in which the employer pools sick days, vacation days, and personal days that allow employees to use as the need or desire arises.
Alorica said that it anticipates the closure to continue to April 30, but would continue to update the workforce.
The salaries of employees already working from home will not be affected.
The company, in a memo obtained by our news team, said it will also pay staff who do not have any accrued PTO 25 per cent of base pay, starting from the effective site closure date until further notice.
The Portmore site was closed April 11 and the Kingston offices on April 13.
Alorica is also advising employees affected to seek redress as soon as possible by applying for the Government’s COVID Allocation of Resources for Employees Programme.
An employee of the company told The Gleaner that not all workers were taking the salary cuts with ease.
“Right now, a lot of people are looking work elsewhere. Pay cut nah cut it in these times,” the employee, who requested anonymity to avoid company sanction, told The Gleaner.
We don’t want to sound ungrateful, but this was not our fault.”
Alorica also told the workers that the company will continue to cover 100 per cent of private medical insurance.
More than 52 employees from Alorica have tested positive for COVID-19.