Battle royal at King’s House over vax-or-test backlash
Published:Thursday | November 4, 2021 | 6:12 AM
The Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA) is awaiting word from the Office of the Services Commission on the employment status of workers at King’s House who were sent home recently on the grounds that they had failed to prove to their employers that they were vaccinated against the COVID-19.
JCSA President O’Neil Grant said the action was taken against the workers after they were deemed to have committed an infraction.
The union has contested the grounds on which the workers were disciplined, arguing that the vaccine-or-test mandate was inconsistent with their classification as civil servants. However, King’s House has countered that the workers are personal servants of the governor general, Sir Patrick Allen, and not civil servants.
“This is an absurdity because you can’t call an accountant who is there to keep the books of King’s House part of the personal staff,” Grant told The Gleaner, adding that the JCSA viewed the declaration with disdain.
“The Government of Jamaica does not have a vaccine mandate, and as far as I am concerned and aware, King’s House is not a separate state on to itself. King’s House is a part of the governance of this country.”
The trade unionist said that at least 28 posts at King’s House were part of the civil service.
Grant said that personal staff at King’s House are constitutionally defined as those persons who are appointed by the Parliament after consultation with the leader of the Opposition and the prime minister.
“Civil servants are not appointed that way, and as far as I am aware, those persons that they have separated were not appointed to King’s House using that mechanism to appoint the personal staff of the Governor General,” Grant further argued. “They are appointed pursuant to the Establishment Act of the Government of Jamaica and not on the advice or direction of the governor general in this instance.”