Sun | Oct 19, 2025

Health ministry given end-of-month deadline to cough up payments owed to workers

Published:Wednesday | June 18, 2025 | 8:24 AMLivern Barrett/Senior Staff Reporter -
The Bellevue Hospital in Kingston.
The Bellevue Hospital in Kingston.

The union that represents public sector employees has warned the Ministry of Health and Wellness that delays in payments owed to some of its members “will not be tolerated” beyond the end of this month.

The warning from the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA) came yesterday after staff at Bellevue Hospital in Kingston were notified via an internal memo that overtime allowance will not be paid for June.

The memo, seen by The Gleaner, noted that the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service previously indicated that the payments were scheduled to be disbursed in the first quarter of 2025 to eligible monthly paid officers.

“To date, no such funds have been received,” stated the memo, signed by acting Human Resource Manager Carita Williams Lindsay.

Without mentioning Bellevue Hospital, the JCSA said it has been reliably informed by the finance ministry that the necessary funds have been disbursed to the health ministry.

“As such, there is no justifiable reason for the continued delay in payments that are rightly due to our hard-working public servants,” the union said in a statement released late yesterday.

“The JCSA wishes to make it abundantly clear that nothing less than full payment in the month of June will be accepted.”

The union stated that any further delay or excuse would be seen as a breach of good faith and a clear act of disrespect towards the workers who continue to serve under challenging conditions.

“If the outstanding payments are not made within the stated period, the JCSA will be left with no choice but to take the necessary steps to protect the interests of our members and normalcy across the public health sector cannot be guaranteed,” the statement said.

The union urged the health ministry to act swiftly and responsibly to avert any disruption and “demonstrate respect for public servants who continue to carry the burden of the nation’s healthcare system”.

Calls to Errol Greene, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health, went unanswered.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com