Understanding Public Servants RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES in Trinidad & Tobago

RIGHTS OF A PUBLIC SERVANT

Public servant rights and responsibilities are statutory in nature because they have been determined over the years by Parliamentary legislative emanations. This is so for collective rights as well as individual rights. This contrast vividly with workers in the private sector because most of their individual rights are identified within case law because the statutes do not provide a very wide range of rights for private sector employees. However, in a similar manner to understanding private sector rights and responsibilities, many years of mentorship is also needed for anyone to fully grasp how the statutory terms and conditions apply to the members of the public service. In fact, there is a paucity of mentors within this area because there is no academic institution known to me which teaches anything about terms and conditions within the public service.

This article does not seek or claim to be fully exhaustive of every right and responsibility out there as they relate to public servants. This article seeks to inspire public servants to challenge themselves in order to seek out those statutory rights and responsibilities as your own personal academic sojourn. No doubt the public servant rights are many and are located in a variety of documents. However, for purposes of this article, I will restrict my discussion to the more universally applicable rights. The following are the most general sources of those rights and these pieces of Legislation make up what can be described as the BASIC LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK:

1.????????? the Civil Service Act Chapter 23:01;

2.????????? the Civil Service Regulations;

3.????????? the Public Service Commission Regulations;

4.????????? the Public Service Appeal Board Regulations;

5.????????? the Industrial Relations Act Chapter 88:01;

6.????????? the Traveling Allowances Act Chapter 23:50;

7.????????? the Traveling Allowances Regulations;

8.????????? the Statutory Authorities Act;

9.????????? the Statutory Authorities Service Commission Regulations;

10.????? ?the Interpretation Act Chapter 3:01;

11.????? ?the Pensions Act Chapter 23:52;

12.????? ??the Pensions Extension Act Chapter 23:53

13.????????? the law reform [Pension] Act – Act No. 20 of 1997;

14.????????? the Exchequer and Audit Act Chapter 69:01;

15.????????? the Guarantee of Loans [Statutory Authorities] Act Chapter 71:81;

16.????????? the Supplement Police Act Chapter 15:02;

17.????????? the Truck Act Chapter 88:07;

18.????????? the Maternity Protection Act – Act No. 4 of 1998;

19.????????? the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits At – Act No. 32 of 1985;

20.????????? the Minimum Wages Act Chapter 88:04;

21.????????? the Trade Unions Act Chapter 88:02;

22.????????? the Freedom of information Act – Act No. 26 of 1999;

23.????????? the Amendment to the Freedom of information Act – Act No. 92 of 2000;

24.????????? ?the Public Service Commission (Delegation of Powers) Order Chapter 1:01;

25.????????? the Public Service Commission (Delegation of Power) (Amendment) Order, 1998;

26.????????? the Occupational Safety and Health Act – Act No. 1 of 2004

27.????????? the Workmen’s Compensation Act Chapter 88:05

28.????????? the National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation Act, 1991 – Act,. No. 16 of 1991

29.????????? the Regional Health Authorities Act, 1994 – Act No. 5 of 1994

30.????????? the Trinidad and Tobago Postal Corporation Act, 1999 – Act No. 1 of 1999;

31.????????? the Constitution (Amendment) (No. 3) Act, 2000 – Act No. 82 of 2000;

32.????????? the Civil Aviation (Amendment) Act, 2003 – Act No. 17 of 2003;

33.????????? the Statutory Authorities (Amendment) Act, 1983 – Act No. 8 of 1983;

34.????????? the Regional Health Authorities (Amendment) Act, 2000 – Act No. 23 of 2000;

35.????????? the Regional Health Authorities Order, 2003 – Legal Notice No. 102;

36.????????? the Interpretation (Amendment) Act, 1998 – Act No. 11 of 1998;?

37.????????? the Constitution;

38.????? ?the Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2000 – Act No. 43 of 2000;

39.????????? the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act, 1987 – Act. No. 3 of 1987;

40.????????? the Industrial Relations (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1987 – Act No. 18 of 1987;

41.????????? the Delegation of Functions (Industrial Relations) Order, 1996 – Legal Notice No. 203;

42.????????? the Limitation of Certain Actions (Amendment) Act, 2000 – Act No. 2 of 2000 (Amendment to Workmen’s Compensation Act);

43.????????? the Children Act Chapter 46:01; and

44.????????? the Reduction of Public Sector Emoluments Act, 1989 – Act No. 5 of 1989

45.????????? the Minimum Wages (Amendment) Act, 2000, Act No. ll of 2000;

the Civil Aviation Authority Act, 2001 – Act ll of 2001.

The following are examples of what certain sections from statutory Acts would say towards my attempt to put the topic of the public servants’ rights into perspective:

1.? Sections 35-40 of Civil Service Regulations – Right to earn Remuneration or Salary;

2.? Sections 41-44 of the Civil Service Regulations – Right to benefit from Incremental increases in Salary;

3.? Sections 72-89 of the Civil Service Regulations – Vacation Leave, Casual Leave, Special Leave, Leave for Trade Union Business, Sick Leave, Maternity Leave;

?4.? Sections 34-36 of the Public Service Commission Regulations and the Statutory Authorities Services Commission Regulations – Right to be Assessed annually via the Preparation of Staff Reports;

5.? Sections 25-28 of the Public Service Commission Regulations – Rights to Acting Appointments;

6.? Section 106 of the Public Service Commission Regulations – Right to Challenge disciplinary measure initiated by Employer;

7.? Section 25 of the Personnel Department Circular 1 of 1973 – Rights to pursue A grievance with employer;

8.? Section 2 (1) of the industrial Relations Act – the right to not work under hazardous conditions (health and safety concerns);

9.? Section 42 of the Industrial Relations Act – protection from being victimized for trade union activity i.e Freedom of Association (See Trade Dispute No. 17 of 1996 - Delivered 20th April 2000 and Trade Dispute No. 116 of 1984 – Delivered 28th January 1988);

10.? Section 2 of the Travelling Allowances Regulations – Right to not be out of Pocket due to traveling in performance of your duty;

11.? Section 55 of the Public Service Commission Regulations – Right to challenge the abolition of a job position in the service;

12. Right of workers to picket during the lunch hour or outside the normal hours of work - (see Trade Dispute No. 155 of 1984 – Delivered 30th May 1989, and Trade Dispute No. 180 of 1987 – Delivered 26th July 1989).

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PUBLIC SERVANT

In a nutshell, the responsibilities of a worker are captured in the “Code of Conduct” which is an amendment to the Civil Service Regulations. These are general responsibilities and are universally applicable to all workers from Ranges 4 to 68. it does not matter what your job specification is. What is significant to note is that these responsibilities can measure your performance and behaviour and a failure to live up or honour your responsibilities would have repercussion of a disciplinary nature.

The following are sections of the Code of Conduct which we should look at in order to put the topic into perspective:

1.? Section 135 (2) – Courteous and Polite Demeanor;

2.? Section 135 (3) – Refusal to perform duties;

3.? Section 136 – Absenteeism;

4.? Section 139 (1), (2) – Criticism of public policy;

5.? Section 142 – Bankrupcy of an Officer;

6.? Section 143 – Minister’s intervention not to be solicited;

7.? Section 146 – Bribery;

8.? Section 148 – Criminal charge against and Officer; and

9.? Section 149 (1), (2) – Misconduct defined

Additionally, the worker has the responsibility not to indulge in illegal industrial action pursuant to the provision of the industrial Relations Act, Chapter 88:01, because injunctions may be used against perpetrators and would-be perpetrators (See A 2/97 – Delivered May 20th, 1997 and No. A3/2000 – Delivered 16th November 2002)

If workers have been deemed guilty of illegal industrial action it could result in the de-certification of the union as a penalty of the proven Illegal Industrial Action (See C 3/81 – Delivered May 13th, 1983, and A 1/82 & C 2/82 – Delivered March 11th, 1983).

RIGHTS OF THE EMPLOYER

Where a worker has rights, by natural deduction it means that the employer is obligated to recognize those rights. Similarly, where a worker has responsibilities, it means that by natural deduction the employer has rights based on those obligations of the worker. The following should be read in order to put the topic of the employer’s rights in the public service into perspective:

1.? Sections 56-59 of the Public Service Commission Regulations – The right? to terminate on ground of inefficiency;

2.? Section 54 of the Public Service Commission Regulation – The right to retire a Public Officer in the public interest;

3.? Section 84-110 of the Public Service Commission Regulations – The right to initiate disciplinary action against a Public Officer;

4.? Section 9 of the Public Service Commission Regulations – The right to summon a Public Officer before the Commission;

?5.? Section 50 (vii) of the Public Service Commission Regulation and Section 12 (g) of the Civil Service Act – The right abolish an Office on the establishment;

6.? Section 23 of Circular 1 of 1973 – Management’s right to consult with staff where it is appropriate.

7.? The right to summon a Public Officer before medical board at any time is a prerogative provided by Section 85 of the Civil Service Regulations and Section 58 (2) of the Public Service Commission Regulations.

8.? The right to recover any over payment made to a public officer is provided by Section 83, 84 and 85 of the Exchequer and Audit Act; and

9. Extended sick leave with or without pay is subjected to discretion of the Employer (see section 86 (1) of Civil Service Regulations and Personnel Department Guidelines for the Administration of Devolved Functions).

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EMPLOYER

?The many responsibilities of the Employer can be identified in the various documents which we have already gone through.? To put this topic into perspective we should look at the following:

1.? Sections 13 – 17 of the Public Service Commission Regulations – Vacancies shall be filled;

2.? Sections 34 – 36 of the Public Service Commission Regulations – Preparation of Staff Report;

3.? Sections 18 – 23 of the Public Service Commission Regulations – Adherence to principles for Promotion;

4.? Sections 24 – 28 of the Public Service Commission Regulations – Adherence to principles for Acting;

5.? Section 29 (1) of the Public Service Commission Regulations – transfer of a Public Officer;

6.? Section 32 of Public Service Commission Regulations – Medical Examination preceding confirmation of Appointment;?

7.? Section 25 of the Civil Service Regulations – Preparation of Confidential Report on Probationer;

8.? Section 33 of the Civil Service Regulations – Computation of Pension as a Matter of priority;

9.? Section 4 of Personnel Department Circular 1 of 1973 and Section 40 of the Industrial Relations Act – need to meet with the Trade Union representatives; and

10.????????????? Section 15 (4) of the Civil Service Regulations – Chief Personnel Department Shall consult recognized association before re-employing pensioners.

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COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ON BEHALF OF PUBLIC SERVANTS / WORKERS EMPLOYED BY THE REGIONAL HEALTH AUTHORITIES

I am guessing that very few public servants today, who are employed by the Regional Health Authorities, were ever employed under the Service Commissions and employed as a civil servant under the Ministry of Health before accepting a transfer to those authorities. In 1989, I was employed by the Service Commissions to be a civil servant under the Ministry of Education and then the Ministry of Labour, therefore, from my personal experience as a civil servant I have a clear appreciation of the circumstances facing the Regional Health Authorities over the years. Twenty (20) to twenty-five (25) years ago, it was the norm for civil servants to be asked to transfer their service from the Ministry of Health to the statutory Regional Health Authorities. However, in the year of 2024, thirty (30) years since the transfers started, most of the public servants at the Regional Health Authorities have been recruited directly by them so they were never civil servants in the first place. Therefore, for purposes of collective bargaining, all current workers at the Regional Health Authorities do not formally fall under the special recognition which the Public Services Association enjoy under the Civil Service Act. Moreover, there is no possibility for the management of the Regional Health Authorities to sign a collective agreement to cover the terms and conditions of their workers because those workers have never obtained recognition as a majority union and as the bargaining agent for the purposes of collective bargaining. The law also prevents the Public Services Association (PSA), the Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU), the Communication Workers Union (CWU), the Banking Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU), the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW), and any other union which already enjoys bargaining agent status at an essential service from obtaining such a bargaining agent status on behalf of workers from any of the Regional Health Authorities (See Section 38 (4) of the Industrial Relations Act, Chapter 88:01, as amended).

This means that the workers at the Regional Health Authorities in 2024 and onwards can only participate in formal collective bargaining if they are able to organize themselves under the provisions of Sections 34 and 35 of the abovementioned Industrial Relations Act, without the participation of any union that already enjoys recognition status at an essential service. Interestingly, during the opening of the Law Term in 2013, the then President of the Industrial Court, Mrs. Deborah Thomas Felix, hinted that the Committee of Experts of the International Labour Organization wanted the conventions dealing with freedom of association and collective bargaining to be more widespread in the Public Service in Trinidad and Tobago so that social justice and industrial peace and stability would be more prevalent.

CONCLUSION

For anyone interested in widening their knowledge in this topic, apart from finding yourself a competent mentor, you most certainly need to look at the following written material in which Industrial Relations information can be found in order to fully grasp the topic covered and to promote growth of your knowledge:

(1)?????? ??Special Tribunal Judgements;

(2)?????? ??Circulars that emanate from Personnel Department; the Comptroller of Accounts, amongst other governmental sources;

(3)?????? ??Memorandum of Agreements between the Chief Personnel Officer and the PSA;

(4)?????? Industrial Court Judgements;

(5)?????? ??High Court Judgements;

(6)?????? ??Court of Appeal Judgements;

(7)?????? ??Privy Council Judgements;

(8)?????? ??Personnel Department Guidelines for the Administration of Devolved Functions;

(9)?????? ??ILO Conventions and Recommendations; and

(10)?? Judgements from other Industrial Courts.