Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
THE COURT of Appeal ruled yesterday that public servants were entitled to earn and accumulate vacation leave during the period they were on interdiction.
The ruling was made in favour of six customs officers who were reinstated in November 1999 after being on interdiction for six years.
When they applied for their vacation leave the Attorney-General sought a declaration from the Supreme Court as to "whether public officers are entitled to earn and accumulate vacation leave and to be paid salary in lieu of vacation leave in relation to periods during which they are on interdiction."
Government lawyers had argued in the Supreme Court that the right to accumulate leave was not one of the entitlements, outlined in the Public Service Regulations, for an officer who was reinstated after interdiction.
On July 18, 2003, Justice Marjorie Cole-Smith ruled in favour of the Government.
Customs officers Beatrice McKenzie, Pamela Wright, Betsy Jones, Desmond Carty, Carlton Campbell and Orrett Harrison took the issue to the Court of Appeal.
APPEAL
Attorneys-at-law Crafton Miller and Stephany Orr, who represented the customs officers, argued that the judge erred in finding that a period of interdiction and vacation leave were equitable.
The Court of Appeal comprising Justice Seymour Panton, Justice Karl Harrison and Justice Hazel Harris heard the appeal and ruled in favour of the customs officers. The court said that a public officer may elect when he proceeded on vacation leave, while an officer who was on interdiction did not have the option to choose whether he remained on duty.
The customs officers were sent on interdiction in 1993 with quarter pay for alleged breaches of the Customs Act. It was alleged that they were knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of import duties on motor vehicles. However, in May 1997, the prosecution withdrew the charges. Disciplinary proceedings were instituted against them in October 1997 but the charges were not established and they were reinstated on November 9, 1999.
