Pension case long delay frustrates court

(CNS): A case in which an employer is accused of not paying around $136,000 in pension payments for several workers was adjourned again Tuesday, more than four years after it first came before the courts, this time because the defence attorney was in quarantine. Gillard Alburn McLaughlin, the owner of Shoreway Builders Ltd, faces several counts of failing to make contributions to a pension plan and one count of not having health insurance.

He was due to stand trial yesterday but the case had to be put off until March of next year, by which time it will be some five years since the charges were laid and almost a decade after he is alleged to have taken pension payments from staff but not put them in a plan.

Magistrates Angelyn Hernandez was clearly frustrated by the failure of McLaughlin’s attorney to make arrangements to connect to the court via Zoom to enable the case to go ahead. She pointed to the age of the case and the fact that McLaughlin’s former workers were now expected to wait another four months to find out what was happening about their missing pensions.

“This is most unsatisfactory,” she said, as she was forced to set a new hearing next year as a result of the packed summary court docket.

McLaughlin, who just a few months ago was appointed to the Central Planning Authority by the new PACT Government, where he is trusted to make key decisions about local development, was bailed to return on 1 March 2022.

The criminal justice system is being particularly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, given that more than 30 inmates at HMP Northward are currently positive and several criminal defence attorneys have also become infected during consultations.

Nevertheless, the courts are still attempting to carry on with the use of Zoom and the implementation of very strict protocols, including masks, sanitation and restrictions on the number of people allowed into courtrooms.