The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunmedia.net

THE deadline has passed for the government to appeal a landmark ruling in an overtime case that could result in as much as $16m being paid to police officers, Wayne Munroe, attorney representing the Police Staff Association in the case, said yesterday.

Mr Munroe told The Tribune that he will soon send a letter to Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson seeking a meeting so the matter can be resolved.

He said he will likely give her between 10 to 14 days to respond to the letter, something he doesn’t envision being problematic because she is responsive to such matters.

When contacted, Mrs Maynard-Gibson told The Tribune she has to discuss the matter with the lawyers in her office.

This comes after the Court of Appeal upheld a Supreme Court ruling that said a force order by former Police Commissioner Paul Farquharson in 2003 mandated that public officers be paid when they work for more than 40 hours in a normal work week.

Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade has previously said that talk about compensation in such a matter was “moot”.

The government had reasoned that the force order was not applicable because of its references to the Employment Act, which does not apply to police officers.

The ruling means that police officials cannot mandate that officers work overtime without providing some kind of incentive.

Although the PSA determined that the overtime police worked between separate periods in 2013 and 2014 would amount to payment of about $16.4 million, Mr Munroe said the government has various options in responding to the matter.

Commissioner Greenslade could, for instance, decide to give the officers time back rather than pay for overtime.

Dwight Smith, chairman of the PSA, has expressed a preference for financial compensation.

In September 2013, the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) introduced 12-hour work shifts for officers in an attempt to get crime under control.

Mr Smith had previously said that the shifts led to police burnout.