Embattled chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation Corporal Rohan James on Thursday described as “a complete fallacy” an insistence by the high command that there has been no temporary interruption of overtime payments to cops.

At the same time, James said the $4.9-billion in overtime being touted as paid out under the system to more than 12,500 rank-and-file members should be probed by the auditor general.

His charge comes as the police high command, in a statement on its social media pages on Thursday, responded to what it said are “baseless” claims aimed at creating unrest and discord among members being circulated in relation to the cessation of overtime payments to rank-and-file cops.

According to the high command, since the implementation of its Workforce Management System in April 2023, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has remained committed to ensuring the well-being of officers, including the prompt and accurate payment of overtime due.

It said at the end of February 2024, more than $651 million in overtime payments were disbursed to members, and the timely and accurate payment of overtime to JCF members will continue.

Additionally, the high command said, in total, more than $4.9 billion in overtime has been paid out under the system, with an average of over 10,000 members receiving overtime payments each month.

“The JCF finds it very concerning that such false reports would begin circulating at this time. The JCF high command takes these matters seriously and views the spread of such misinformation and disinformation with great concern. We urge the public, and more specifically members of the JCF, to critically assess the veracity of information encountered on social media and other platforms,” it said.

But, according to Corporal James, even as the JCF issued its refutation, complaints from cops have continued to flow in to the federation, which represents police from the rank of constable up to inspector.

“It is a total fallacy, because the complaints are still coming in and [are] still being observed in the numerous communications rooms that we have established. Even today there are several members who have not received any overtime payment and are questioning how it is that they are working ‘x’ amount of hours and are only seeing remuneration for some hours,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

According to the federation chair, some cops have been receiving only partial overtime payments while others are receiving none.

He said the aggrieved federation has headed back to the courts to seek a resolution on the overtime issue, which is of some vintage.

The federation, in 2019, had filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of National Security, Attorney General, and the police commissioner complaining that its members had been working more than 40 hours per week without being paid.

The federation argued that this was in breach of the 2008 heads of agreement.

In June 2022 the Supreme Court, in ruling partially in favour of the federation, said each of the heads of agreement between the federation and the ministries are binding on the Government as they “created a legitimate expectation” from rank-and-file cops that they would be paid for the overtime they had worked.

The Government was then ordered to put in place, by March 31, 2023, a system to properly quantify the overtime hours of the police so that members can be accurately compensated.

But the court sided with the Government by not granting damages to the Police Federation, pointing out that rank-and-file cops had accepted a 10-hour overtime payment from the Government, regardless of actual hours worked, until the new system was put in place. The court also ordered that the Government continue to pay the 10 hours of overtime until March 31, 2023, by which time the new system should be in place.

On Thursday, James said the parties had not complied in full with the orders of the court.

“As a matter of fact, contempt proceedings were filed recently in the Supreme Court regarding non-compliance with the court orders in relation to the overtime matter for which the court had issued several orders, and that was filed on January 17. So it is expected that that matter will go forward,” James told the Observer.

He, in the meantime, scoffed at the $4.9-billion being touted by the JCF as having being paid out since.

“I would encourage the auditor general to peruse that matter because we are still at daggers drawn with it, and we are of the fervent view that the members are not benefiting to that tune,” James told the Observer.