The Re­trench­ment and Sev­er­ance Ben­e­fits (Amend­ment) Bill, 2026, will re­vise and in­crease sev­er­ance ben­e­fits payable to work­ers, pro­tect work­ers in groups few­er than five, in­tro­duce tem­po­rary lay­offs and pri­ori­tise re­hir­ing of re­trenched work­ers, says Labour Min­is­ter Leroy Bap­tiste.

“Our ad­min­is­tra­tion en­tered of­fice with a clear man­date to mod­ernise labour leg­is­la­tion, and with­in 12 months—not ten years—we’ve achieved con­sen­sus, draft­ed a bill, and laid it be­fore Par­lia­ment. Promise made … Promise kept!” Bap­tiste de­clared in the Sen­ate yes­ter­day.

Pi­lot­ing the bill, Bap­tiste slammed the for­mer Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment gov­ern­ment for non-ac­tion on re­form­ing labour laws.