SEVERAL senior staff members on contract at the Financial Services Commission (FSC) are restive over the entity’s failure to pay millions of dollars in gratuity, some due from last year.

The livid staff members are now appealing to members of the board of the FSC, in particular its chairman, Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) Governor Richard Byles, as they seek an explanation as to why the gratuity has not been paid and when the money they are contractually entitled to will hit their accounts.

They are also questioning the irony of the FSC — as the regulator of pension schemes, among other industries, and the promoter of financial inclusion — having a third of its staff complement on contract and withholding that benefit/entitlement in what seems an arbitrary manner.

Under the guidelines established by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, gratuity for local contract officers is payable up to a maximum rate of 25 per cent of basic salary earned for a contract period of not less than two years in the first instance.

However, subject to the terms of the contract and the availability of funds gratuity may be paid annually after the first two years of continuous contract service, provided that any subsequent contracts are a minimum of two years in duration.

According to Jamaica Observer sources, the practice at the FSC, over several years, has been that the gratuity is paid annually.

However, recently there have been several changes in the administrative affairs of the entity and how performance appraisals are completed and approved.

The sources say over the years, an assessment score above 65 per cent on an appraisal would be considered a satisfactory performance and would automatically trigger gratuity payments at the FSC.

But industrial relations experts have argued that there is no formal rule on an appraisal score for the payment of gratuity as heads of public sector entities would wield too much power by keeping appraisals below that threshold to not pay money which is legally due to the employees who are not members of the company’s pension scheme.

The Observer was told that previously many of the appraisals for senior staff of the FSC saw people earning scores of between 75 and 90 per cent.

But there have been indications that there are concerns about the conduct of those appraisals resulting in an effort for them to be more in line with new thinking on the concept of the performance of the FSC.

Questions are also being asked if the delay in the gratuity payments is linked to the recent hike in the basic salaries of FSC staff members. The basic salaries were increased by approximately 50 per cent based on a decision of the finance ministry to remove the allowances paid to them and to reclassify the posts, as part of the public sector modernisation programme which restructured the salary system of government employees.

According to sources, FSC employees are owed approximately $100 million in gratuity.

“It cannot be fair that the FSC has held on to money which is due to staff and if and when it is paid the staff, will get no compensation or interest based on the delay, and the FSC — which is facing financial challenges of its own — gets to keep any interest earned on the money during the time when it should have been paid,” charged one source.

“In more than 20 years of operation the FSC has never reneged on its financial obligations, but under this current arrangement we also have suppliers who are facing delays to get paid,” added the source.