No printer so no salary relief grant?

THE EDITOR: While I was pondering the incredulous circumstances reported in your July 2 article, headlined “Man buys Licensing Office a typewriter to get taxi badge,” I found myself faced with what seems to be a frighteningly similar situation. This time, lack of a functioning printer has reportedly stalled the processing of covid19 salary relief grants.

On April 9, via e-mail, I submitted all the required documents for the grant on behalf of my employee, for whom all NIS contributions are paid-up and current. Over the past 12 weeks we have been glued to every press conference and news report that might provide some inkling on the status of her payment.

Checking for the grant money has become a daily ritual with trips to the bank’s ATM, checking in with other hopeful applicants and, in recent weeks, joining the salary relief grant Facebook group for minute-by-minute updates.

Lo and behold, moments after I had read the typewriter story, my employee contacted me with an update on her grant application.

She had just received a telephone call from a woman who could not share her name or where she was calling from. All she could say was, “The printer not working. You need to resubmit your documents at TTPost.”

She provided a number that must be written on the resubmitted forms. She could not say if or when any payment would be made.

On July 3, without success, I attempted to verify the information from the anonymous caller with both the NIB and the Ministry of Finance’s salary relief grant help desk. With great scepticism, on Monday we followed the mysterious instructions and resubmitted the printed documentation at TTPost.

It is my hope that someone, somewhere reading this letter is willing to provide some official guidance and, of course, let us know if there is in fact no printer to process the grant money?

CELIA GIBBINGS

via e-mail