By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

AS the Christie administration seeks to clamp down on “double dipping” in the public sector, Bahamas Public Services Union President John Pinder is preparing to take the government to court over its actions.

As of February 1, civil servants were no longer allowed to collect full pay as well as sick benefits from the National Insurance Board (NIB) – a practice that has been going on for years.

According to a January 22 letter circulated to all permanent secretaries, heads of departments and finance officers, those public servants who do not claim NIB sick leave benefits within a certain time period will have their pay cut in the amount of the claim.

NIB will provide the government with quarterly reports of claims by government employees and the Treasury will then make salary deductions, the letter adds.

The letter, signed by Public Service Permanent Secretary Hyacinth Winder Pratt, says people given more than four consecutive workdays of sick leave are now mandated to have their NIB claim forms completed and submitted to relevant officials three months from the first day of their illness.

When contacted yesterday, Mr Pinder said the move amounts to creating a blanket policy that would deduct money from the salaries of all people who make sick claims from NIB, even those who desperately deserve the extra cash.

The government, Mr Pinder said, “is of the view that it doesn’t want employees to receive more than their base salary.”

While the government may be concerned about how much money it is spending in the public service, Mr Pinder said the real source of the problem are doctors who give workers more sick days off than they need.

He is concerned that through the new policy, genuinely sick people will become financially overburdened.

“We are aware that some persons are abusing this but that’s not all the employees’ fault,” he said. “It’s the fault of physicians who give numerous days of sick leave based not always on what employees are feeling. But really sick people who have extra expenses because they have to pay for medical procedures and medications will face a lot of problems because of this. Rather than having a blanket policy they should deal with this on a case-by-case basis. And rather than taking all the money at one time they should take the money on an incremental basis.”

Mr Pinder said the union’s lawyers are expected to file court documents by the end of the week to have the policy undergo a judicial review, as he believes it contravenes the Employment Act.

In March 2014, Minister of Labour Shane Gibson said the practice of “double dipping” had been eliminated for workers at public corporations. At the time, it was unclear if the government would expand this to the whole public sector.