The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

A DISABLED woman with an autistic daughter, who cannot feed her children because she is not being paid by the Ministry of Education, said the bank is foreclosing on her home.

Stephanie Naomi Penn Rolle said she has been working for the MOE for 13 years in the Examination and Assessment Department. However, she was injured on the job three years ago, forcing her to have corrective spinal surgery.

Mrs Rolle said the injury left her unable to work for two years, but she was still being paid by the MOE because she was hurt on the job. But she said the cheques stopped coming in August of 2012 and in fact she received a letter from her job informing her that she owed the government more than $5,000 and she would be “medically boarded“ from her job – which means she will have to go before a medical board to determine if she is fit to work.

Mrs Rolle said she could not afford to take the package that was being offered to her, so she got a sick slip from her doctor along with a letter clearing her to work, which she took to the Ministry of Education.

“I gave it to them and they told me, I can go back to work on January 7. I have been working ever since, but I have not received my first pay cheque. If I owe the government money, why would they take my entire salary and if that is the case, those payments would have been up by now because it has been almost a year,” she said.

“I have been going back and forth between the MOE and the Department of Labour trying to get answers, but I keep getting turned around. I can’t pay my bills.

“I cannot feed my children. The bank is foreclosing on my home, I do not have electricity and if it was not for the Department of Social Services giving me food stamps, I would not eat.”

The Tribune contacted Bahamas Public Service Union President John Pinder who said he was told the issue was resolved. He does not understand why Mrs Rolle isn’t being paid.

“The government may be recovering their funds from her by taking her entire salary. I know when you owe them money they immediately take their funds back, even though when they owe you money they do not pay,” he said.

“What usually happens is they would work out a deal to recover the funds over a period of time. Even if they were taking her salary she should have been paid since May, so I am working on it.”

The Tribune attempted to contact the MOE and the Department of Labour, but calls were not returned up to press time.