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Information, Analysis and Hot Topics in Workplace Relations
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28 December 2017

08 ……….The Public Service 11 ……….Service Commissions

The Public Service speaking of the salaried employees in the service of

A series of recent headlines have once more focused
attention on the public service and a variety of
industrial relations issues affecting public officers.
WorkPlaceBRIEFING notes that most attention in
the industrial relations arena, even in curricula at
various institutions and publications on workplace
relations tend to emphasise or exclusively examine
industrial relations theory and practice in the private
sector.
WPI will give due consideration to issues arising in
the workplace of the public service – the largest single
group of employees in the country.
What is the Public Service?
In Trinidad and Tobago, we use the terms ‘Public
Service’ and ‘Civil Service’ interchangeably when
the Government.
Strictly speaking, as a matter of legal and
Constitutional definition those terms are distinct.
The Public Service is a broader group which includes
the Civil Service. Apart from the Civil Service, the
Teaching, Fire, Police, Prisons and Judicial and Legal
Services all form the Public Service.
Historically, the Civil Service was created in the
transition from the rule of Monarchs to that of
Cabinets in Britain.
In 1854, a Commission of Inquiry set up to examine
the organisation of a permanent Civil Service
published its report and pointed to the rationale of the
foundations of the Service.
“It may safely be asserted that, as matters now stand,
the Government of the country could not be
carried on without the aid of an efficient body of
permanent officers, occupying a position duly
subordinate to that of the Ministers who are
directly responsible. to the Crown and to Parliament,
yet possessing sufficient independence, character,
ability, and experience to be able to advise, assist,
and, to some extent, influence, those who are from
time to time set over them.” - (p.3) The Northcote-
Trevelyan Report.
According to the Constitution, the public service
means “the service of the Government …..or the
Tobago House of Assembly…in a civil capacity”
In essence, the civil service is really the engine room
that drives the work of any government. It was
designed as a permanent professional organisation for
the turning of government policy and programmes
into real action.
(Continued on page 2)

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Civil servants have two main roles – 1) to advise Public Service Employment
government and 2) to implement government policy.
In order to fulfil these roles the civil service must There are some features of the public service that
include a cadre of well-qualified and trained career makes employment in it a unique type of employment
officers with attributes of professionalism and in our workplace scenario.
dedication to service. These features distinguish public service employment
from employment in the private sector or other
Who is a Public Officer? aspects of employment in the wider public sector
A “public officer means the which includes public
holder of any public office” i.e. a “At pleasure" means that the Crown enterprises and statutory
salaried office in the public servant may lawfully be dismissed organisations.
service. (section 3(1) Ch. 1:01 – summarily without there being any need Two distinguishing elements
the Constitution). for the existence of some reasonable of public service employment
Section 3(4) goes on to say that a cause for doing so …. are:
person is “NOT be considered to would even enable a government, Public Officers are not
hold an office in the public composed of the leaders of the political employed by political
service” simply because he/she: party that happened to be in power, to officeholders. They are not
a) receives a pension dismiss all members of the public service appointed or dismissible at
who were not members of the ruling party pleasure.
b) holds the offices of Presi- and prepared to treat the proper Insulation from political
dent, Presiding Officers performance of their public duties as interference was guaranteed
or members in Parlia- subordinate to the furtherance of that in our Independence
party's political aims. Constitution with the
ment, Minister, Parlia-
“In the case of an armed police force,,,,the
mentary Secretary, introduction of the Public
power of summary dismissal opens up the
Ombudsman or member prospect of converting it into what in effect Service Commission and
of any Commission creat- might function as a private army of the other Service Commissions.
ed by the Constitution, political party that had obtained a majority In the landmark case of
Endell Thomas v The AG, the
member of the Judiciary, of the seats in Parliament at the last
Privy Council had cause to
other judicial tribunal or election.…” - Endel Thomas v AG 1981 remind Government of this
the Public Service Appeal 3WLR 601 vital principle of our
Board, member of any administrative law and governance.
board or committee established by an Act, Civil servants have two main roles – 1) to advise
member of the President’s personal staff or a government and 2) to implement government policy.
consultant or adviser or a person appointed on In order to fulfil these roles, the civil service must
contract for up to 5 years. include a cadre of well-qualified and trained career
officers with attributes of professionalism and
A Civil Servant is defined in the Civil Service Act as dedication to service.
a public officer whose holds a public office …deemed Civil services (and in our case public service
to be an office in the Civil Service (s. 3(2) Ch. 23:01). employment generally) is a special kind of
The offices in the Civil Service are “set out in the employment which provided for tenure of
First Schedule: of the Civil Service Act (s.3(1)). employment to ensure that a professional service was
So, in a nutshell, available to whichever government comes into office.
i. public officers are salaried holders of offices The particular nature of civil service and public
in the public service. service employment generally, referred to as
permanent and pensionable employment, was
ii. ALL public officers are appointed by a Service
recognised in our law in the 1973 case of John
Commission i.e. the Judicial and Legal
Reddick v Lalla, Kenneth and the Public Service
Service, the Public Service, the Police Service Commission applying the law in the McLelland case
or the Teaching Service Commission. out of Ireland.
We do not have any spoils system here like in the US,
where successive governments (Continued on page 3)
(Continued from page 2) have a right to bring in their
own employees to a certain extent.
The human resource management function in the
public service is shared principally between 2
institutions:
A. The Service Commission supported by the
Service Commissions Department – respon-
sible for appointment, transfer, promotion, dis-
cipline and termination, and
B. The Chief Personnel Officer and Personnel
Department – the employer in law, responsi-
ble for issues of job design and evaluation, in-
dustrial relations conduct including negotiation
of terms and conditions of employment and
administration of the application of thereof.
These 2 human resource agencies delegate some of
their powers to be exercised by officers at various
levels of management in the public service structure.
Public Officers vs Contract Employees
We have taken some time to point out, in detail, who a
public officer is because there is a tendency to blur the
lines between PUBLIC OFFICERS and CONTRACT
EMPLOYEES in the Civil Service.
Contract employees have even been deemed public
officers by one government.
Over the last three decades, various administrations
have increasingly used contract employment to the
extent that as many as 80% of the persons one
encounters in a Ministry or Department may not be
Civil Servants but contract employees.
The Constitution is explicit. A person “appointed on
contract for 5 years or less” does not hold a public
office.
In other words, although persons may be employed on
contract in a Ministry, Division or Service, the fact
that they work in a public service function or
institution, DOES NOT MAKE THEM PUBLIC
OFFICERS.
3 Members of the Police Service Commission sworn in
Contract employees, often referred to as contract
officers, are NOT appointed to a public office by a
Service Commission.
They are employed by the Permanent Secretaries or
Heads of Department in the particular Service.
According to a 1980 Cabinet decision (Cabinet Note
No. 1700) the principles of contract employment were
set out including:
a) Regardless of age, persons may be employed
for specialized work
b) Employment for a period of 1 to 3 years
c) Contract gratuity to be paid at the end of the
period
d) Contracts may be renewed by mutual agree-
ment
e) Permanent employment may be offered at the
expiration of contract and gratuity earned or
service under contract may count for pension
purposes under the Pensions Act.
Contract employees were intended to be engaged in
the public service in situations in which specialised
work could not be performed by public officers and
not for permanent and pensionable employment.
In our employment law scenario, public officers’
matters are matters of public law.
They are resolved via the grievance procedure within
Ministries then the Chief Personnel Officer or the
Public Service Commission and the final stage is in
the Civil Court.
Contract employees are workers, within the meaning
of the Industrial Relations Act and are more like
employees in the private sector.
The grievances and disputes of the contract employee
are handled via grievance procedures within
Ministries, then the Ministry of Labour and the final
state is in the Industrial Court.
What we encounter as the Government Service is,
therefore, 2 parallel employment arrangements
operating within the largest employ within the
workforce of Trinidad and Tobago.
 The Service Commissions
Service Commissions are the bodies established in
the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago with specific
powers in relation to the Public Officers in the various
Services within the Public Service.
Last September, former Head of the Government
Economic Advisory Board, Dr. Terrence Farrell,
added his voice to others, when he suggested that
“Service Commissions need to be removed from the
Constitution…” and called for “an end to “career
public servants”…”. – Newsday, 28 September 2017.
http://newsday.co.tt/2017/09/28/replace-service-
commissions-with-hr-depts/.
At Independence in 1962, Mr.
James Manswell, then leader of the
Public Services Association,
argued for the inclusion of Service
Commissions in our Constitution
to guard against “political
interference” in the management of
the Public Service.
The objective of their inclusion
remains to ensure impartiality and
integrity of the Public Service in
the service of the Government
whoever may form it.
The importance of this insulation
against political interference has
been reinforced the Endel Thomas case and many
other Court decisions since.
Introduction of Service Commissions
The Public Service Commission was introduced in
1950 as an advisory body which, according to
Kenneth Lalla was a “mechanism allowing the people
and not politicians….involved in ….selection ….for
appointment in the Civil Service….”. – The Public
Service and Service Commissions, Commonwealth
Caribbean, Kenneth R. Lalla, 2013, Universal
Printers (T&T).
Before 1950, recruitment and appointment was the
sole purview of the Governor. Local members of the
Colonial Service were appointed and dismissible at
the “pleasure” of the Governor and Secretary of State.
The value of the introduction of the Public Service
Commission in providing some possibilities of
advancement in the Civil Service cannot be
overstated.
The inclusion of Service Commissions in the
Independence Constitution was a further step in the
guaranteeing of an impartial Service with Public
Officers no longer dismissible at the “pleasure” of
political officials.
This provided a measure of security of employment
for Public Officers as well as the capability of a
professional Service to advise and implement the
policies of whichever Government is in office.
This is a different arrangement of the “spoils system”
in the US governance structure where each new
President and his administration has the ‘right’ to
appoint the most senior officials of the Government
Service.
The Tension in the Public
Service
Ever since, there has been a
tension in the Public Service in
which politicians have, in various
ways, attempted to restore to
themselves, the old Crown and
Governor’s powers of appointment
and dismissal at “pleasure” over
Public Officers.
Over the years since 1962, many,
like Mr. Farrell, have argued that it
is time to get rid of the Service
Commissions.
Some have made that call outright.
Others have sought to whittle away at the powers and
scope of the jurisdiction of the Commissions.
From amendments to the Constitution, to the
widescale replacement of Public Officers with
Contract Employees in the Civil Service, to the
creation of Statutory Bodies, Special Purpose
Companies, etc. performing the functions of the Civil
Service like the RHA.s, TTPOST, and others –
various ways have been sought by subsequent
Governments to weaken, if not eliminate, the Service
Commissions and their Constitutional role.
A particular case in 2006, was the amendment of the
Constitution, to remove thousands of Police Officers
from the jurisdiction of the Police Service
Commission and give all the powers that the
Commission had to a single officeholder – the
Commissioner of Police.
 of an independent Commission with Constitutional
The Commission was only left with 2 offices –
authority.
Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner under its
purview and even stripped of the power to transfer. The call for the removal of the Commissions and
This was the single biggest move by politicians (via their replacement by “HR departments” proposed by
Parliament) to emasculate a Service Commission. Farrell, who will be appointed by politicians as all
Contract Employees are will surely mean that the
Both the appointment of the Commissioners and their
desire of the politicians to have the ‘right’ to hire and
appointments of the Commissioner and Deputy are
fire – to appoint and dismiss at “pleasure” as the
now subject to approval of the House of
Governor of old – would be accomplished.
Representatives.
The security of public officers and the integrity and
While some may see the transfer of the veto power of
impartiality of the Public Service would all be eroded,
the Commission’s nominations for appointment to the
if not erased, by such a development. impartiality of
2 Offices in the Service from the Prime Minister to the
the Public Service would all be eroded, if not erased,
House as a positive development, it is still a veto
by such a development. by such a development.
power by politicians in a function that should be that

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