KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Some reinstated public sector workers are accusing the government of Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday of reneging on a promise to provide them with a bonus, as outlined during the campaign for the November 27 general elections last year.
Public sector workers have expressed anger, frustration, and disappointment over what they described as deception by the two-month-old New Democratic Party (NDP) administration and senior public service officers.
The complaints came after the reinstated workers checked their salary slips, only to find that instead of the promised EC$1,500 to EC$ 2,000 (One EC dollar = 0.37 cents) bonus salary, they received, in some instances, EC$166.67 and, in other cases, as small as EC$125.
The Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) has been reliably informed that close to 100 public sector workers who were recently reinstated under the new government’s policy are the worst affected, receiving as little as one-twelfth of the promised bonus.
The CMC has also obtained a memo stating that public sector workers who did not work for the whole year last year are not entitled to the full salary bonus. The January 26, 2026, memo came three days after the government held a news conference to announce the bonus payment.
Prime Minister Friday, Attorney General Louise Mitchell, and Minister of Health Daniel Cummings all spoke at the news conference. Still, none of them mentioned that recently reinstated public sector workers would not receive the full bonus.
More than 500 public servants lost their jobs in November 2021 for failing to take a COVID-19 vaccine mandated by the then Dr. Ralph Gonsavles administration.
During the campaigns leading to last November’s general election, the NDP promised that, if elected, the workers would be reinstated with all benefits intact and would abide by the March 2023 ruling of High Court judge Justice Esco Henry, which found the government’s action illegal.
In her ruling, Justice Henry said that the law that the government used to bring the vaccine mandate into effect was void to the extent that it deprives any public sector worker of accrued pension benefits or rights under their contracts of employment.
The judge ruled that none of the workers had ceased to be entitled to hold the respective offices of public officers or police officers and ” remain entitled to hold those respective offices…
“The claimants are entitled to their full pay and all benefits due and payable to them in their respective capacities as public officers or police officers, inclusive of any accrued pension and gratuity benefits or rights from the respective dates on which they were deemed to have resigned.””
She said that the state was liable to each claimant for damages for the constitutional breaches, including an additional award to reflect the seriousness of the violations and deter any recurrence, with interest at the statutory rate of 6% per annum.
The judge said the Public Service Commission, the Police Service Commission, the Commissioner of Police, and the Attorney General ” are directed to make the necessary arrangements for the respective claimants to receive all payments and benefits to which they are or may become entitled or that may be awarded to them arising from any subsequent assessment of damages.””
The new government made it clear that it was upholding Justice Henry’sHenry’s ruling that the vaccine mandate was unconstitutional, unlawful, and ultra vires, among other things, and that the dismissed workers must be reinstated with all benefits intact.
This has been the NDP’s position despite the Court of Appeal’s ruling overturning Justice Henry’sHenry’s decision, leading the unions to appeal to the London-based Privy Council, with the matter still pending.
Speaking at the news conference last Friday, Mitchell announced that the government had reinstated the jobs of almost all the workers fired under the vaccine mandate who had returned after the NDP came to office.
“So, of the 100 persons that have resumed, placements have been found for 92 of the 100,” the attorney general told reporters, noting that workers dismissed will be issued letters of resumption of duties and will be appointed to similar or equivalent positions to the post held at the point of dismissal.
But while the government said it was upholding Justice Henry’sHenry’s ruling, which says the dismissed public servants are to be treated as if their service had not been interrupted, the public servants are discovering that the Friday government is treating them as if their service had been broken. They are not entitled to full benefits, including the full salary bonus.
The reinstated public servants are being told they did not work for the whole year, so they are not entitled to the full salary bonus.
Mitchell had said that the government had stated its policy and that any resistance to its implementation would be addressed.
The policy is for the persons to return to work full-time with their benefits intact. This is government policy. Everyone in a position that affects the implementation of that policy must adhere to that,” Mitchell said.
“Beyond being government policy, it’s the right thing to do, and we want to make sure that those persons who have suffered so much in the past don’t continue to suffer when the government has made a commitment,” she told reporters.
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