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The Beat

Q Why can’t there be an automatic roll Q What of the rewording of the
Publication regarding the Forty
over of vacation leave? Over the years
Hour Work Week?
we have lobbied for there to be an auto- The Commissioner stated that in his view the word-
matic roll over of vacation leave, it is one of the ing categorically states that no rank and file
matters the Federation believes should be given member should work more than fifty hours per
serious consideration and so we are on a relentless week.
drive to see this happening.

Q Why do members wait for long Q Will the Federation be seeking a

periods to be paid meal allowance?
Judicial Review regarding the deci-
The Police Federation met with the sion of the organization to dismiss
Jamaica Constabulary Force Human Resource persons after they have resigned? We have met
Department and discussed several issues affecting with our attorneys on the matter and are exploring
our membership. We are hoping to see marked the way forward. Our attorneys have not completed
changes in this regards. their research and so we await their findings.
However, we are reminded that a member has the
Q What of Ethics Committee for which would include special consideration for
option of applying for the four weeks’ window

circumstances beyond the members control (excep-
persons who were successful in the
last Examination? tional cases). Reference Force Orders 3662 dated
Persons deemed to have outstanding ethical issues August 10th, 2017.
were advised that they should appear before the
ethics committee. We have lobbied strongly for this We asked that members also read section five of the
to be done, however to date we are still waiting. Constabulary Force Act which has been Amended.
The Second Schedule on page 19, shows the
Q What of payment for persons who Reform (Zones of Special Operations) Special
Amendments to other sections of the Act. The Law

were successful and were not
Security and Community Development Measures)
promoted in the last Examination Act, 2017 was used to increase the Penalty. We are
and were published? not in agreement and will find the best option in this
After successfully negotiating for payments to be case for our members.
made after passing the Promotional Examinations,
a Force Orders publication was done. To our
displeasure the payment to our members is still
outstanding. The High Command stated that the Q What of the code of conduct for the
issue they were having is there will not be equity WhatsApp groups? We must apolo-
on how to administer payment to benefit persons gize to our membership for stating that
who were being paid seniority and where on the we would have published the code of conduct and
salary scale would they fall. At our last meeting unfortunately this has not been done. A code of
with the Commissioner, he instructed that members conduct for the various chat groups was in fact
should be paid on the principle that they should not written and tabled for ratification at the Central
be placed in a worse position after payment. With Committee. This code of conduct was predicated on
this instruction, we were assured that Finance rules governing the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
Branch will process payment soon. However, after careful analysis and consultation,
we learnt that WhatsApp Chatrooms are a part of

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