Hundreds of primary and secondary school teachers are being denied a second term’s leave because of the failure of a High Court judge to deliver a written decision.That has been revealed by the president of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Rudy Lovell who said that 15 months after Madame Justice Shona Griffith overturned the decision by the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training (METVT) to stop allowing a second term’s leave, teachers are still waiting to benefit from the ruling.And he said the affected educators were frustrated.“Teachers continue to suffer burnout and even though there is a legal mechanism drafted to allow them to re-energise after the first 15 years and subsequently after every five years of service, that right has been taken away from those who wish to exercise it,” he said.
The spokesman for the business community has called on law enforcement authorities to go after importers of illegal guns, regardless of who and where in society they are, as she expressed the group’s concern about the recent gunplay in the country.President of the Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA) Trisha Tannis has also urged Government to make amendments to the Bail Act to prevent people on murder charges from easily posting bail.Sharing business’ concern about a spike in gun-related crime that included five killings last week, Tannis said the time had come to hold accountable all those responsible for bringing illegal firearms into the island.“As a country, they have told us that we have invested in scanners at ports of entry. It is difficult to think that in an island of 166 square miles that we [don’t] have intelligence that tells us where the issues are, and to our minds the only issue we have is one of accountability.
Government has been ordered to pay out close to $700 000 to five education officers who were denied allowances from as far back as 2003, in a case that could impact others in similar positions.In addition to finally getting the allowances due to them, those among the five who have retired will receive increased pension and gratuity while the others who are still employed will see a significant increase in their salaries from next month.Their attorney Gregory Nicholls described the High Court decision as an example of “justice prevailing against all odds”.In a recent ruling previously unreported in the media, Madame Justice Shona Griffith ordered Government to pay the sum of $682 080.95 in pensionable allowances due to education officers Vaneisha Cadogan, Pamela Hunte, Peggy Agard, Pauline Miller and Celeste Clarke-Cox, who in 2014 challenged the decision of the Ministry of Education to deny them the payments that they argued were due in accordance with Government policy.
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Home / Top Featured Article / In landmark case, civil servants shielded from automatic firing for legal infractions In landmark case, civil servants shielded from automatic firing for legal infractions
Article by May 5, 2021
The Supreme Court has declared unlawful, the automatic dismissal of public workers on the basis of criminal convictions as it ruled on Monday in two separate decisions with wide-ranging implications for employment relations in Government.
On Monday, Madame Justice Shona Griffith delivered landmark judgments in cases brought by Wilbert Lynch v the Chief Personnel Officer, the Public Service Commission and the Attorney General and Kenrick Carmichael v. the Attorney General et al, which now place tremendous scrutiny on the way disciplinary proceedings are conducted.
Court ruling has implications for magistrates’ action
Article by May 5, 2021
The days of persons being convicted of criminal offences and having their records immediately expunged in the Magistrates’ Courts could well be a thing of the past, based on a powerful precedent set in the Supreme Court on Monday.
In fact, the recent judgment suggests that the magistrates who delivered such rulings may well have been acting outside of their power.
In handing down a judgement regarding the treatment of public officers facing disciplinary proceedings, Madame Justice Shona Griffith rejected arguments from two separate claimants who were represented by Hal Gollop Q.C. in association with Saffron Griffith on one hand and Gregory Nicholls on the other.