Reinstated workers say gov’t short-changed them on salary bonus

By Ashford Peters 

The Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines did not respond immediately for a request for comment Thursday night as some reinstated public sector workers claimed they were short-changed on the salary bonus election promise. 

Some public sector workers expressed anger, frustration and disappointment over what they described as deception by the 2-month-old New Democratic Party (NDP) administration and senior public service officers.

The complaints came after the reinstated workers check their salary slips only to find that instead of the promised EC$2,000, they had received as low as $166.67 in some cases, and in other cases, instead of receiving the promised EC$1,500, as little as EC$125. 

iWitness News was reliably informed that close to 100 public sector workers who were recently reinstated under the new government’s policy are the worst affected, receiving as little as a one-twelfth of the promised EC$2,000 or EC$1,500.

iWitness News obtained a memo that instructed that public sectors workers who did not work for the full year last year are not entitled to the full salary bonus.

The Jan. 26, 2026 memo came three days after the government held a press conference announcing the payment of the bonus.

Prime Minister Godwin Friday, Attorney General Louise Mitchell and Minister of Health Daniel Cummings spoke at the press conference.

However, none of them mentioned that recently reinstated public sector workers would not receive the full bonus. 

Over 500 public servants lost their jobs in November 2021 for failing to take a COVID-19 vaccine as the Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration had mandated.

During the campaigns leading to last November’s general election, the NDP promised that if elected to office, the workers would be reinstated with all benefits intact and abide by the March 2023 ruling of High Court judge Justice Esco Henry that the government action were illegal.

In her ruling, Justice Henry said that the law that the ULP used to bring the vaccine mandate into effect was void to the extent that it deprives any public sector worker of accrued pension benefits or rights under their contracts of employment.

The judge ruled that none of the workers had ceased to be entitled to hold the respective offices of public officers or police officers and “remain entitled to hold those respective offices…

“The claimants are entitled to their full pay and all benefits due and payable to them in their respective capacities as public officers or police officers inclusive of any accrued pension and gratuity benefits or rights from the respective dates on which they were deemed to have resigned.”

She said that the state was liable to each claimant for damages for the constitutional breaches inclusive of an additional award to reflect the seriousness of the breaches and deter any recurrence, with interest al the statutory rate of 6% per annum. 

The judge said the Public Service Commission, the Police Service Commission, the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General “are directed to make the necessary arrangements for the respective claimants to receive all payments and benefits to which they are or may become entitled or that may be awarded to them arising from any subsequent assessment of damages.”

The NDP administration made it clear that it was upholding the ruling by Justice Hanry that the vaccine mandate was unconstitutional, unlawful and ultra vires, among other things, and that the dismissed workers must be reinstated with all benefits intact”.

This has been the NDP’s position despite the ruling of the Court of Appeal overturning Justice Henry’s ruling, resulting in the unions appealing to the London-based Privy Council, with hearing of the matter still pending. 

Speaking at the press conference on Jan. 23, 2026, Mithcell announced that the government had released the post for almost all of the workers fired under the vaccine mandate who has returned to their jobs after the NDP came to office. 

“So, of the 100 persons that have resumed, placements have been found for 92 of the 100,” the attorney general told reporters in Kingstown.

She noted that workers dismissed will be issued letters of resumption of duties and will be appointed to similar or equivalent positions to the post held at the point of dismissal. 

Ironically, while the government said it was upholding Justice Henry’s ruling, which says the dismissed public sectors are to be treated as if their service had not been interrupted, the public servants are discovering that the very government is treating them as if their service has been broken and they are not entitled to full benefits, including the full salary bonus.

The reinstated public servants are being told they did not work for the whole year so they are not entitled to the full salary bonus.

Mitchell had said that the government had stated its policy and that if there’s any resistance to the implementation of the policy, that would be addressed.

She said this was important so that the people who have suffered so much because of the vaccine mandate, would not have to go through any further indignity of encountering situations where they are treated otherwise than returning fully to the duties in government.

Mitchell said that the workers are to be accorded the respect and every assistance and accommodation to ensure that that happens in a smooth way. 

“The policy is for the persons to return to work full with their benefits intact. This is government policy,” the government’s chief legal advisor said.

“Everyone in a position that affects the implementation of that policy must adhere with that,” Mitchell said.

“Beyond being government policy, it’s the right thing to do, and we want to make sure that those persons who have suffered so much in the past that they don’t continue to suffer when the government has made a commitment,” she told the media.