Court reporters sickout stalls cases

Criminal cases in five courts at the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston had to be put off today for other dates as most of the court reporters called in sick.

It is reported that nine court reporters were scheduled to work today in those courts but only two turned up.

Last week the court reporters had given the Court Administration Division an ultimatum to have the faulty air conditioning units in their department fixed by today or they were going to take action.

Court officials said today that the air conditioning units, which were not working for almost a year, were fixed on Saturday. They said they did not know if the courts will be able to sit.

But the court reporters said today that they have numerous other problems which need to be addressed.

They outlined that there should be a complement of 45 court reporters but there was now only 27 of them on staff. The shortage has led to one court reporter being assigned to each court instead of the regular two.

“Most times the preparation of transcripts for cases being appealed have to be done at home and there is no compensation for that,” the court reporters complained.

“We are tired of complaining and no one is listening to us so right now we are frustrated.”

One court reporter pointed out that when the Ministry of Justice was responsible for the administration of the courts, much more attention was paid to the maintenance and complaints of the workers.

“There are badly needed resources such as proof readers, filing clerk, electronic filing system and proper storage facilities for the department,” the court reporters said.

The court reporters say they are not being paid adequately for the volume of work they have to do under stressful conditions. They explained that was one of the reasons for the short staff and others are planning their exit.

“The authorities ought to realise that the job we do is an integral part of the judicial process and do something about the situation,” a court reporter noted.

- Barbara Gayle

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