Judge laments slow pace of job evaluations at regional corporations

A HIGH COURT judge has lamented the slow pace of a job evaluation exercise for regional corporations as he ruled that a senior officer at the San Fernando City Corporation was the victim of inequality of treatment for almost 30 years.

The worker has asked that her name not be used for security reasons. She is to receive compensation which will be assessed by the court. She has also received two declarations that her rights to equality of treatment were breached because she was paid less than her counterpart from the Port of Spain City Corporation (POSCC).

In his ruling, Justice Kevin Ramcharan ordered that the SFCC take immediate steps to start a job evaluation exercise soon after the end of the covid19 pandemic.

Ramcharan noted that a job evaluation exercise has not been done since the 1960s, and it was not until 2013 that it started.

He said it was concerning because between the 1960s and 2013, when San Fernando attained city status (in 1988) it appeared positions were just renamed without any consideration for whether if there was a need to reclassify them.

He also pointed out that in 1990, the system of local government received a major overhaul, with the change from county council to municipal corporations, “One would think that it was incumbent at this time to engage in a holistic evaluation exercise to understand the human resource needs in light of the changes which the reforms would have brought.

“Despite this, it was not until some 23 years later that this exercise was commenced, and then unfortunately aborted,” he said.

The woman, who held positions of valuation clerk, assistant, and acting city assessor, from 1990 to 2018, was paid considerably lower than her counterparts at the POSCC although they did the same job.

According to the evidence presented to the judge at trial in 2012, the Ministry of Local Government wrote to the chief executive officer of the SFCC to identify positions in the corporation similar to those established in the POSCC but which did not attract the same remuneration.

In 2013, the then acting CEO of the SFCC wrote to his counterpart in the POSCC pointing out the inequality of treatment between the positions that were similar in nature but did not attract the same remuneration.

The acting CEO also wrote to the ministry identifying the positions which included all the posts the worker was employed in.

The judge’s decision detailed the decades of the woman's grievances and her many attempts to get redress without success.

In 2013, the Personnel Department issued a memo to ministries and departments notifying of a job evaluation and compensation exercise.

Three years later, the contract between the CPO and the consultant ended because of unresolved problems.

In 2017, a new notice of tender was published to take over the exercise. Negotiations with the proposed firm began and the contract was expected to be signed in the early part of 2019.

The woman was represented by attorneys Sunil Gopaul-Gosine and Kingsley Walesby, while the State was represented by attorneys Keisha Prosper, Stefan Jaikaran, and Andella Ramroop.