ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – A government legislator says the Public Service Commission (PSC) has provided no reason why it terminated the employment of Labour Commissioner Valerie Thomas three months after she took up the two-year appointment.
“In trying to obtain a reason or a justification, I did not get permission from the Public Service Commission,” said Phillip Telesford, the Leader of Government Business in the Lower House of Parliament.
Telesford, responding to questions from Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Mitchell regarding the dismissal of the labor commissioner, told legislators the PSC would not be accountable to the government.
“The Public Service Commission is a separate entity and does not, under this administration, answer to the government of Grenada. They are a separate creature, and so I wish to advise the Leader of the Opposition to direct or so direct his question to the Public Service Commission,” Telesford said.
In keeping with its constitutional mandate, he said the PSC established a committee and a set of criteria for the assessment of suitably qualified candidates for the position of Labour Commissioner, which had been advertised.
“I emphasized, Mr. Speaker, the Commission establishes its procedures for reviewing applications and, in its deliberate judgment, appointed one Valerie Thomas for the position.
“As for the background qualifications and experiences, Ms. Valerie Thomas is a graduate of the Cipriani Labour College of Trinidad and Tobago in the field of labor and co-operate studies, specializing in labor studies with an emphasis on labor administration, dispute management, and tripartite dialogue.”
“As for the termination and seeking a response and by section 84 (3), the termination is within the purvey of the public service Commission and in trying to obtain a reason or a justification, I did not get permission or a reason from the public service commission,” Telesford added.
On March 2nd, Labour Minister Claudette Joseph announced that the PSC had terminated a two-year contract with Thomas because “she did not work out to be a good fit with the staff at the Ministry of Labour.
“Upon review of the state of the relationship as requested by the Public Service Commission, it was decided by the Commission and the Ministry that it will be best for us to go back to the drawing board in our search for a labor commissioner that fits with the personnel,” Joseph told a news conference then.
“So, we have ended the relationship, and we will go back to the drawing board with a new labor commissioner to be announced in the not-too-distant future,” she said.
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