LIVING ‘HELL’
PICA employee appeals punishment after two years without a hearing
Published:Saturday | October 8, 2022 | 12:10 AMKimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporter
To access this article in full please login or register today
An immigration investigator employed by the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) is lamenting how a grouse he has with the state entity is being handled after being held on interdiction for two years without 50 per cent of his salary...
An immigration investigator employed by the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) is lamenting how a grouse he has with the state entity is being handled after being held on interdiction for two years without 50 per cent of his salary or a disciplinary hearing.
Steve Whyte, who has been a PICA staff member since June 2015, was suspended after two passports he had in his possession went missing.
According to Whyte, who spoke to The Gleaner on Thursday, he had discovered that the passports, submitted by two Italians, had been fraudulently stamped, and as a result, he confiscated and packaged them to be dropped off at a police post on the way to work the following morning.
Whyte said that he had finished working the late shift at the Norman Manly International Airport in Kingston and was on his way home, when his vehicle developed mechanical difficulties in Toll Gate, Clarendon, causing him to seek help.
He said that he was assisted by three men, but on arriving home, he discovered that the package with the passports and other personal items were missing.
“Nine days after I reported the matter, I was sent on interdiction without a hearing. From October 2020 to today, I have not received a hearing,” Whyte told The Gleaner.
He insisted that it was standard and legal to be in possession of documents outside of the office.
He was cited for negligence and ordered not to leave the island without permission in the interdiction letter issued by Joan Guy-Walker, PICA’s human resource director.
Several attempts to speak with the director proved futile as The Gleaner was repeatedly told that she was unavailable.
Guy-Walker did not respond to a Gleaner email which detailed the allegations. She also read but did not respond to a WhatsApp message sent.
PICA CEO Andrew Wynter said he could offer no comment because “Mr Whyte is on interdiction and [is] facing disciplinary charges”.
“Nobody met with me to hear my side of the story,” Whyte said, adding that his attorney, Walter Melbourne, has since reached out to the agency.
The Gleaner contacted Melbourne, who confirmed that his client was suspended without a disciplinary hearing or meeting.
Granville Valentine, general secretary for the National Workers Union (NWU), which represents PICA staff, could not be reached for comment.
Whyte said that the suspension has caused him great stress and claimed that he was hospitalised for two days a month ago after suffering a heart attack.
The 50-year-old father of four said that his suspension has caused irreparable damage to his marriage, which is now on the rocks.
“I am now contemplating a divorce. That’s how bad things have gotten. My wife has moved out two times since. I just got her to come back. It’s because of the whole financial stress; my inability to take care of my family the way that I should,” Whyte divulged.
He said that his family has had to go many nights without meals.
He also said that he is fighting to keep his children in school.
“I was sent on interdiction in the middle of the pandemic. Several nights, I cannot find food for my children. Things that I would have refused some time ago, I had to draw back for them and make some [un]conventional meals; I had to improvise. I have been through hell,” he said.
He argued that greater breaches have been committed at the agency but have gone unpunished.
He alleged that on some occasions while conducting background checks on persons who have applied for permanent resident (PR) status, staff are asked to bypass processes to create favourable outcomes.
“Persons would have applied for permanent residence and the officers on the ground recommend that the person is not suitable for PR and them get it because of friends,” he alleged.
Whyte added that in 2019, information he uncovered during an investigation had suggested that five Hondurans being probed were caught up in a human-trafficking ring. He said it was suggested that he charge the men for illegal entry, but he refused.
“We will not breach the rights of any foreign national because of instruction given. We won’t do it. We will not break the law ... . So that is where it’s at. I know it’s malice,” he added.
The matter was reported to the Office of the Public Defender, The Gleaner was told.
Several attempts to speak with Public Defender Carolyn Reid-Cameron, KC, were unsuccessful.