Trade unionist Senator Lambert Brown has condemned the practice by some regional health authorities of diverting employees’ deductions – intended for standing order obligations – to other uses such as overtime payments.
The issue was raised on Tuesday during a hearing at the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT), where the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA) and the Ministry of Health and Wellness are before the quasi judicial body to resolve a stalemate over overtime payments.
At Tuesday’s hearing, the acting principal financial officer at the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Donovan Davis, fielded questions from Brown, who is representing the JMDA.
During his examination-in-chief, Brown asked whether, at various times, the ministry had used funds that doctors and other health workers had authorised for payment to financial institutions to cover overtime costs.
Davis acknowledged that this had occurred but pointed out that responsibility for paying staff rests with the regional health authorities and their boards.
Brown pressed further, asking whether any law permits regional health authorities to use workers’ deductions for purposes other than those authorised. Davis responded that there is no such law.
UNSURE OF CONSEQUENCES
When asked what action could be taken against the regional health authorities for using employees’ deductions for other purposes, Davis said he was unsure.
The issue was first raised on November 26 last year during the cross-examination of the ministry’s principal director of corporate services, Sonia Smith, by attorney-at-law Stuart Stimson. Smith indicated that “regrettably,” there were occasions when staff members’ personal deductions were not paid for a month or two.
She explained that the unpaid deductions included loan repayments and insurance premiums. The IDT panel was told that after overtime and session claims are settled, regional health authorities sometimes lack the funds to meet personal deduction obligations and must seek additional financing from the ministry.
Smith further noted that this situation has become more frequent since the Compensation Review.
