State to pay King’s House ex-staffers denied access during COVID
Published:Monday | February 17, 2025 | 9:56 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
The Government has agreed to reimburse the salaries and allowances, with interest, to two former King’s House employees who were barred from entering the premises in October 2021 as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.
Office attendants Valerie Marsh Bennett and Signorina Raymond were prevented from working since Octiber 2021 after failing to provide COVID-19 test results.
The women filed a lawsuit against the State last March, claiming their constitutional rights were being violated and that they faced hardship after being blocked from work. A hearing in the Constitutional Court was scheduled for February 10 and 11, but a settlement was reached yesterday.
“The attorney general agreed to settle with the two ladies and to pay all the back monies, plus interest and legal cost,” attorney-at- law Hugh Wildman told The Gleaner.
He said the court was told by the attorney general that the reimbursement is to made by the end of the financial year.
PLEASED WITH OUTCOME
According to Wildman, his clients are pleased with the outcome.
“They are feeling good. We brought the case against the Government and they realised that they don’t have no case so they had to settle,” he shared.
In their claim, filed on March 20, 2023, the former employees sought several declarations, including that only the governor general, upon the advice of the Public Service Commission, has the authority to remove them as public officers under Section 125 of the Constitution of Jamaica. They also sought full compensation from April 2022 to the date their claims were resolved.
According to their affidavits, on October 6, 2021, when the women arrived for work, they were blocked from entering by the King’s House premises because orders were given to members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force to block them.
They said they were not informed by the Public Service Commission or the governor general that they were no longer employed as public officers.
The claimants explained that during the pandemic, they had been asked about their vaccination status by Claudine Heavens, the secretary in the Office of the Governor General. When they stated they were unvaccinated, Heavens requested medical reports to justify their inability to receive the vaccine, which they provided.
Bennett said Heavens informed her that arrangements were being made for her to go to Andrews Memorial Hospital to verify the report of her doctor. She went to the hospital and furnished a medical report to Heavens, which confirmed the findings.
Bennett stated further that when she returned to work on October 6, 2021, Heavens called her and Raymond and again enquired whether they were going to do COVID-19 tests. They said they explained they could not afford the test, and Heavens instructed them to leave the premises.
The women contended that they requested written authorisations to leave their jobs, but Heavens told them to consult their union. Raymond also provided a medical report explaining why she could not take the vaccine at the time.
Wildman was instructed by the Jamaica Civil Service Association to represent the women.