THE long-standing plight of a senior public sector worker, who has been on interdiction for 12 years on quarter pay, which he says has “ruined” him financially, is one of eight such active cases that have pressed Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA) President Techa Clarke-Griffiths to lobby for amendments to the Public Service Regulations.

According to Clarke-Griffiths, the employee, who has since reached retirement age, has been made even worse off with the recent public sector compensation review.

“Since the finance minister rolled the allowances into the salaries he has ended up getting even less. The worker was barely surviving off the motor vehicle allowance [component of his salary], but they have put that in the salary now and taxed it, so he is even at a greater loss,” Clarke-Griffiths told the Jamaica Observer.

The man, who is employed to a mega ministry, was interdicted in 2012 but his case was dismissed by the court in 2015 for want of prosecution. A dismissal for want of prosecution occurs when a case is dropped because the plaintiff failed to take necessary and required actions in a timely manner.

According to Clarke-Griffiths however, the employee, in furnishing the ministry with the certificate of dismissal, was told that he would “not be reinstated because dismissal is not tantamount to an acquittal”. Instead of reinstatement, Clarke-Griffiths said the employee was told that the ministry was of the view that he should be tried internally again and then fired. He was, however, saved from that because of legal intervention. The matter again headed to the courts for a determination as to whether he should be tried again. The case is now before the Court of Appeal for its ruling.

“These are not made-up stories, they are impacting people in real life and causing financial strain,” Clarke-Griffiths told the Sunday Observer, noting that the case pre-dates her leadership of the organisation and has outlasted the presidency of at least one other.

“These are the real stories we have to be dealing with as a union; sometimes I feel overwhelmed. These interdictions are out there. They [ministries, departments and agencies or MDAs] have to move with alacrity to sort out people’s lives; they cannot continue to have people out there like that and they are not able to work [based on the terms of the interdiction] and earn to provide for their families,” she stressed.

“That is why I am so eager to have Section 32 of the Public Services Regulations amended so that persons who are public servants no longer suffer the indignity of interdiction, which is what it is. There is absolutely no reason any public servant should be in this position for so long, because even if you were going to serve time for a criminal offence, chances are you would have been released already depending [on the length of the sentence],” she argued.

Section 32 states, among other things, that where disciplinary proceedings or criminal proceedings have been, or are about to be instituted against an officer, and where the commission is of the opinion that the public interest requires that the officer should cease to perform the functions of his office, the commission may recommend his interdiction from the performance of these functions and that an officer so interdicted shall, subject to the provisions, be permitted to receive such proportion of the salary of his office as the commission shall recommend to the governor general.

It also says the proportion of the salary will be related to the nature and circumstances of the charge against the officer and should not be less than a half or quarter, subject to the allegations. Under special circumstances the commission can recommend to the governor general that the salary be paid at a proportion less than one quarter or be entirely withheld.

It goes further to say that where disciplinary proceedings against an officer under interdiction from duty result in his exculpation, he shall be entitled to the full amount of salary which he would have received had he not been interdicted; but where proceedings result in any punishment other than dismissal the officer shall be allowed such salary as the commission may, in circumstances, recommend.

Clarke-Griffiths told the Sunday Observer that the association has been assisting individuals affected in similar ways with representation and other forms of support. At present, she said, the JCSA has had one case of interdiction within the Ministry of Local Government since 2022; that individual is on half salary. One employee from the Customs Department is also on half salary; another from the Accountant General’s Department, also half salary; one from the Department of Corrections is on half salary; and one from South East Regional Health Authority is likewise on half salary. One from the Ministry of Justice is on eight per cent of salary; and there are two from the Ministry of Education.

Others are still being collated, the Sunday Observer was told.

In the meantime, other industrial relations grievances being handled by the JCSA total 1,293 over the past three years. Of that number, 942 have been settled with 351 still outstanding. Seventy-four cases are pending hearing/appeal, while five are before the courts. Between 2020 and 2023 the association received 3,477 call-in/walk-in cases.

“In terms of people who have been impacted who have come to the association for assistance, we have seen an increase over the past four years. In 2020 we had 767 persons and in 2021 we had a slight reduction to 719. In 2022 we saw a significant increase to 994, and in 2023 we saw the numbers go to 997. I don’t know what caused the spike, but we have seen the spike,” Clarke-Griffiths told the Sunday Observer.

“Clearly, this increase is an indication that something is happening in the MDAs. One of our greatest challenges is to get the internal hearings where the person is given an opportunity to defend themselves against the allegations in the various ministries, departments and agencies,” Clarke-Griffiths said.