by Linda Straker
- Female officer accused of leaking internal memo on social media
- PSC presented officer’s infractions since 2007 unrelated to memo leak
- PSC failed to set out a charge pursuant to PSC Regulations or Standing Orders
A Committee set up by the Public Service Commission (PSC) to determine that a public officer placed on administrative leave violated different clauses of the Public Service Statutory Rules and Orders, has found that the PSC failed to prove its case.
“The Committee finds that there was a failure by the Public Service Commission to set out a charge pursuant to Public Service Commission Regulations, 1969 regulations 74 and 88(2)(a) and or the Standing Orders standing order 31,” the Committee said in its conclusion after listening and reviewing arguments presented in the matter.
“There was no case made out,” said the Committee, chaired by retired Justice Rosalyn Wilkinson. The other members were Aine Brathwaite and Reginald Lord.
The female Officer, attached to the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Culture was accused of leaking an internal memorandum and placing it on social media. That internal memorandum was the contractual arrangement for hiring Patrick Simmons and another individual as advisors to Sports Minister Ron Redhead.
According to the Committee, the Ministry reported the allegation to the PSC and requested that it appraise the situation and subsequently take whatever action the Commission deemed necessary.
Though the leaking of information was the essence of the accusation, the PSC presented her file showing that she has had different infractions since 2007. None of these were related to the leaking of the memorandum, which ended up on social media.
The appointed public officer who has worked with Government for the past 25 years is set to return to work at the end of May 2023. When she was placed on administrative leave in March, the Public Workers Union (PWU) took up the matter, and Jimmy Bristol, the attorney for the union, represented her.
