PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC—A High Cort judge Friday ordered the Public Service Association (PSA) to pay its former president, Watson Duke, 50 percent of his final salary as his pension benefit after he secured an interim injunction compelling the union to pay his pension benefit immediately until his lawsuit against the union goes to court.
Justice Frank Seepersad granted the interim injunction, while Justice Marissa Robertson is expected to hear Duke’s substantive lawsuit on July 8.
Duke had filed the injunction application on June 27, asking for an urgent hearing. His lawyers had argued that their client had no other source of income, as he was now retired and looking toward his pension benefit.
The applicant/claimant’s financial reserves are quickly depleting, and financial institutions are now threatening legal action for the arrears in his loan payments.
“The applicant/claimant suffered significant financial losses as a result of the actions of the respondent/defendant in not only refusing to pay his pension benefits but also refusing to pay his legitimate pension benefits,” the lawyers argued, adding, “if left without a pension the applicant/claimant is facing grave financial impunity.”
In early June, Duke filed a lawsuit against the PSA over his pension.
Duke, who is also the political leader of the Progressive Democratic Patriots and a former THA deputy chief secretary, is seeking declarations that his rights and his contract of employment were breached by the refusal to pay his pension.
His lawsuit also maintained he was facing bankruptcy.
“Due to the delayed pension payments, the claimant has been unable to meet his financial obligations, leading to unpaid debts and legal actions from creditors, including banks, over nonpayment of loans and credit cards.
“The claimant is now facing the imminent risk of being declared bankrupt by the courts due to his inability to pay his debts. If declared bankrupt, the claimant fears being prevented from participating in the upcoming general elections…”
The Representation of the People Act disqualifies anyone declared bankrupt from holding office in a registered party. The lawsuit said, “This would cause irreparable harm to the claimant’s political career and deprive the electorate of their choice of representative.
The lawyers argue that Duke, as the political leader of the PDP and a career politician, must remain free from bankruptcy to compete fairly in all upcoming elections in Trinidad and Tobago.
Duke, who served as PSA president from November 2000 to December 2021, is seeking compensation of TT$729,833.33 (One TT dollar = US$0.16 cents) as special damages and TT$25,166.67 as continued payment of his regular monthly pension benefits, two-thirds of his former salary, starting June 20.
In his lawsuit, Duke said that the PSA’s general council passed resolutions to allow a president’s employment terms and conditions to be parallel to those of a permanent secretary in the Public Service.
It claimed in 2009, before he became president, the PSA’s general council passed two resolutions on pensions for full-time officers under the tenure of former PSA president and labor minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus.
However, in September 2010, the union’s general council passed another resolution rescinding the previous two, stating that only the union’s conference of delegates could make the changes.
The general council also passed a resolution to ensure its officers were afforded the same retirement benefits as public servants of similar rank and status.
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