Supreme Court staffers cry out against ‘inhumane, degrading’ working conditions

Despite the Government’s pledge in 2018 to create a First World, high-tech court system, many members of the Supreme Court staff said this week that they were working in inhumane conditions.

The staff outlined in detail some of the problems they faced on the job, one of which, they said, was “the fiery furnace” persons in the court registries have to endure because of malfunctioning air-conditioning units.

According to the staff members, numerous complaints have been made but very little has been done to alleviate the problems.

“How can they achieve a first-class system when the clerks who are an integral part of the system are not being treated fairly?” one member remarked.

Attorney-at-law Zara Lewis is calling for the Government to take immediate steps to address the situation. She said she had first-hand experience on June 6 of the unbearable heat in the courtroom of the Commercial Division because no air-conditioning unit was working in that courtroom.

She said that the two were actually blowing hot air and “our bodies were literally producing buckets of sweat”.

OVERRUN BY COCKROACHES

Cockroaches are plaguing the building because of the intense heat in the lunchroom. Some of the staff say that because of the heat, they are forced to eat at their desks and this, they say, has attracted the insects.

“So you have to make sure that you search your handbags before you leave work or else the cockroaches are going to keep you company at home,” one of the staffers said.

“Inhumane and degrading treatment” is how some of the members of staff in the civil, matrimonial, probate, and commercial registries described their working conditions. “Sometimes the few fans just blow hot air, and everybody knows that with climate change, it is extremely hot at this time,” one of them stressed.

There are termites around as well, they said, referring to a case in which an attorney-at-law nearly injured herself when a bench on which she was sitting broke. It was then discovered that termites had not only invaded the bench, but other sections of the courtroom.

“So that courtroom, which is Court 16, is out of service because chi chi (termites) are trying cases in that courtroom,” a staffer disclosed.

According to the staff, there is urgent need for the air-conditioning units to be fixed because the heat places a limit on the courtrooms that are functional.

There are always long delays finding suitable courtrooms to try civil cases which many times has left litigants and attorneys-at-law frustrated.

One of the problems is that the civil courts on the north building, which once housed the National Commercial Bank, have windows that are sealed. When the air-conditioning units are not working, the windows cannot be opened, one of the workers pointed out.

In November 2018, Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, during a keynote address to justices of the peace, reiterated his commitment to createinga First World, high-tech court system in Jamaica within the next six years. Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck then pledged the Government’s commitment to do whatever it took to make his vision a reality.

Lewis said she was aware of the shortage of courtrooms, and if one should check the court lists, there were always notations that courtrooms were “to be announced” for some of the civil cases. She also confirmed that lawyers and litigants, on many occasions, have to wait for a long time to get a courtroom for their cases to be heard.

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