KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) says there was no windfall of any kind benefitting its executive staff following reports last month that they received salary increases amid efforts to retain critical staff.

The bank in a release this evening said that things are back to normal at the institution after it confirmed in a meeting this morning that there was no windfall nor adjustment to salaries based on any compensation survey.

It further added that the general adjustment to executive compensation reflects adjustments made to all staff in keeping with the negotiated settlement.

In fact, the BOJ said that it was at this meeting, its representatives were for the first time formally made aware of the union’s concerns regarding executive management compensation, as the meeting was initially called to discuss the “unusually high number of unionised staff who reported their unavailability for work due to illness over a period of two days” on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

The meeting included representatives from the bank and the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS).

A report carried by this newspaper on April 24, noted that unionised staff were left enraged after information surfaced that the compensation packages for the executive management were topped up during 2017 amid efforts to retain critical staff. However, no increases were granted to unionised staff.

Information gleaned from the bank’s annual report, which was made public in March, showed that the increased salaries granted to individual executives were calculated at being within a range of $9.28 million to $19.3 million, relative to the 2016 pay packets when the range was $8.09 million to $18.02 million.