Legal ‘Beasts of Burden’

A former Crown counsel, one of at least 40 to have left the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) in the last five years, has sided with former colleagues who withdrew their services from the court system yesterday.

The attorney called them beasts of burden who have been saddled with the weight of the Crown with poor compensation.

His comments came yesterday after it emerged that a group of prosecutors, an apparent subset of the Legal Officers Staff Association (LOSA) who called themselves “concerned prosecutors”, brought court proceedings to a standstill in several parishes yesterday.

Except for two persons who “called in sick” and two senior deputies, the majority of others returned to base. There is no word that the situation will change today, but meetings were said to be under way with different stakeholders.

“Nobody has ever seen to be concerned with, or cared about what happens at the office with prosecutors. It’s always an ignored group. Nobody at the Ministries of Justice or Finance seems to recognise the cries and pleas that have been made succinctly, loudly, or otherwise,” said the attorney, now at the private bar.

“They are a very small group who play an extremely important role. There is no secret that we live in a high-crime society and it requires a specific push at every level. That decision cannot be made without considering how it affects prosecutors’ compensation,” he charged.

“It’s time for the Government to consider looking at prosecutors as a special group of officers. The prosecutors and those who work at the Attorney General’s Department are unique when you consider other legal officers. The other legal officers have desk jobs. The prosecutors and those at the AG Department have to go to court every day in addition to doing their desk jobs. They are the donkeys of the justice system, and litigation is rising every day,” he told The Gleaner.

Treated poorly

Yesterday, Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn defended her staff, acknowledging that the work load of prosecutors is onerous and unthankful and comes with poor compensation. The group, she said, has been poorly treated by both political administrations.

While hoping that good sense will prevail as the current session comes to an end on July 30, Lewellyn, during a press conference, said both administrations have demonstrated a lack of respect and recognition for the work of Crown counsels as evidenced by the poor remuneration.

“I am hurt that my staff is so hurt,” Lewellyn told journalists yesterday.

Compared to other public-sector workers, she said they fared better in the reclassification and compensation exercise.

Yesterday’s action came as a surprise to her as it was while attending a pre-scheduled meeting at the Ministry of Justice that she was alerted that all was not well.

It was the first time such an action had occurred during her tenure as DPP.

Years ago, former DPP Kent Pantry faced a similar situation. LOSA was also forced to take legal action on behalf of its members many years ago.

Justice Minister Delroy Chuck said last night that it was unclear what led to yesterday’s actions.

“I am not too sure what exactly is the grouse. I believe that LOSA is the body that represents them, but it is impossible for the Government to negotiate with them separately. What the DPP staff should do is to put a case together and take it to LOSA and let it make a case for them,” Chuck said last night.

He described the situation as “most unusual”.

A comment from Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke, on RJR’s Beyond the Headlines which labelled them ‘a renegade group’, further incensed them yesterday evening even as a meeting was in place. One of the affected parties said she “was done”.

The concerned prosecutors said there was no response to their letters of May 26, 2023, and July 12, 2023, to the finance minister and - copied to the prime minister, minister of justice, and permanent secretaries of the Ministries of Finance and Justice as well as the DPP - in which they expressed several concerns, and indicated that a meeting was required to discuss them.

“We perceive this lack of response as utter disregard and disrespect to prosecutors. Today, prosecutors have called an urgent meeting to address our concerns regarding our welfare, well-being, and the way forward,” it ended.

Clarke fired back later in the afternoon, stating that LOSA was the only recognised body representing all members of the legal profession employed to the Government of Jamaica, including prosecutors. He chronicled a series of actions, including letters, telephone calls, and attempts at a meeting to address the matter, with the understanding that matters were to be concluded with several other bodies.

He said a May 26 2023, unsigned letter from a group calling itself the “Concerned Prosecutors at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions” expressed dissatisfaction with compensation levels for prosecutors. He said, “It entailed no specific policy suggestion or request, and the letter did not express a desire for a meeting. Moreover, the letter was not signed by an individual who could be contacted. It was signed ‘Concerned Prosecutors ODPP’. In addition, the letter neither contained an email address nor a telephone number.”

However, there was a post office box number.

He made it clear that his ministry would not be engaging with unrecognised groups.

“… The recognised bargaining group for members of the legal profession employed to the Government of Jamaica is LOSA. There is no other recognised group,” Clarke responded.

A government source said that the Ministry of Finance officials were offended by a specific paragraph of the May 26 letter.

That paragraph reads: “In February of 2023 a meeting was convened with Legal Officers, to include Prosecutors from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), aimed at negotiating a reasonable compensation package. At that time, you indicated that the country was facing financial constraints, therefore, a 20 per cent increase over a three-year period was the best the Government was able to offer legal officers.”

Continuing, it said: “You expressed that you understood the invaluable service of legal officers and urged us to accept the nominal increase as a sacrifice to move the country forward economically. We were dissatisfied, however, based on your representations as the Minister of Finance, that a more respectable increase could not be accommodated in the budget, we reluctantly accepted the wage package offered for 2022 to 2025.”

Said the source: “I understand where they are coming from. I feel their pain. I was one of them. But tell this to the minister when you are with him alone, but don’t write this in a letter. They should have at least shown it to the DPP before sending it. I am sure she would have offered some advice.”

The concerned prosecutors raised concerns over their remuneration, stating that the poor salary was a major cause for the high attrition rate at the office.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com