Police Federation to appeal aspects of Supreme Court ruling

 

The Police Federation has said it is not fully satisfied and will be appealing aspects of the Supreme Court ruling concerning its overtime pay dispute with the government.

 

Chairman Corporal Rohan James has disclosed that the group will appeal aspects of the decision. 

 

 

 

"The acknowledgement by the court that our employer has failed to institute mechanisms to properly capture work done and to compensate is acknowledging the fact that we are being deprived properties for which we are entitled to in the form of salaries and remuneration, and therefore, it does stand to reason that there should have been a reasonable judgment handed down in terms of damages and we are going to be pursuing it," said Corporal James, who maintained that the group has a solid case to support its claim. 

 

"There are myriad of areas to that which the government has not been acknowledging and compensating for, and one of those areas is that you cannot be compensating me at a flat rate for work done in excess of a 40-hour work week. It must be time and a half," he explained.  

 

Aside from the likely appeal, Corporal James said the next step is to ensure that the overtime payment system is implemented as ordered by the court.

 

Mr. James urged rank and file members to be patient during the implementation process, noting that the pursuit of justice "is always a long haul". 

 

"We have been waiting and we have reached this far and it is incumbent that we go the distance to ensure that all the members who have sacrificed with their lives, blood, sweat and tears, that they are given full recompense," he said. 

 

Jacqueline Samuels Brown, the Police Federation's attorney, lamented that it took court action to get the government to abide by the heads of agreement.

 

"We note that it was not until this hearing started that there was a definitive statement that the system to be put in place and the financing would be made available so that the contractual obligations of the government could be enforced and that that would be done by March of 2023. We wish it could be earlier but sometimes, you know, what they say, when your foot is in a lion's mouth, you have to be careful how you take it out."  

 

The full court panel ruled that the heads of agreement signed since 2008 between the Police Federation and the Ministry of Finance as well as the Ministry of National Security are binding on the government, and created a legitimate expectation among the rank and file cops that they would be paid for overtime work.