From left: APS Senior Pension Administrator Eric Tjon Tam Pau, APS Adjunct Director and Manager Pension Administration Oscar Williams, Minister of Justice Anna Richardson, HR Senior Policy Advisor Florence Marlin, HR Consultant Grace Marlin-Blijden and Policy Advisor Tiffany Glasgow.
PHILIPSBURG--On Tuesday, Minister of Justice Anna Richardson entered into consultations with the management of St. Maarten Pension Fund APS regarding the draft Legal Position Regulation for the Police of St. Maarten.
Discussions were focused on the incorporation of the 16.3% retroactive pension for law enforcement personnel.
Minister Richardson met with APS Adjunct Director and Manager Pension Administration Oscar Williams, APS Senior Pension Administrator Eric Tjon Tam Pau, Human Resources Senior Policy Advisor Florence Marlin, Human Resources Consultant Grace Marlin-Blijden and support staff to discuss the next step of the calculations process for the finalisation and approval of the draft Legal Position Regulation for the Police.
In the meeting, it was agreed that APS will review the pension calculations for all justice employees and make the necessary updates to their admini stration. This also includes the execution of the correct pension rectifications for the personnel of St. Maarten Police Force KPSM, the National Detectives, and Immigration and Border Patrol Services. This will ensure that the data related to their pension is calculated accurately.
“I am elated to arrive one step closer to our goal of having the calculations completed by engaging with APS,” Minister Richardson said. “APS understands the urgency of having this meticulous process finalised, as such, they have committed to work diligently with the Ministry of Justice.”
All law enforcement personnel, including police officers, administrative and technical personnel of KPSM, the National Detectives and Immigration and Border Protection Services (IBP) are being paid the salary and compensations that they received prior to October 10, 2010, in the Netherlands Antilles. In comparison to other civil servants working for the government of St. Maarten, the salaries of KPSM, the National Detectives, and IBP personnel were not adjusted to include 16.3% equal to the Windward Islands allowance they were paid in the days of the Netherlands Antilles. However, law enforcement personnel continued to get the 16.3% as an allowance, as such it was not included in the gross amount of their monthly salaries.
To ensure that the government of St. Maarten is in compliance with Article 20 of the Kingdom Act on Financial Supervision for Curaçao and St. Maarten (“Rijkswet Financieel Toezicht Curaçao en Sint Maarten”), the Ministry of Justice continues to diligently work on the finalisation of the total debt amount that the government will have to pay the justice employees over a three-to-five-year period as agreed in the established Covenant agreement between the Minister of Justice and the union representatives.
Once APS has completed the pending calculations to include the 16.3%, the calculation process will end, Richardson stated. “Subsequently, to avoid any discrepancies in the amounts to be paid out to the respective justice employees, the data of the total calculations will be submitted to SOAB for auditing.”
Upon receipt of the audited report from SOAB, the minister will once again send the completed National Decree containing General Measures (Lbham) in connection with the new police law with the new salary scales and the approved Function Book back to Governor Ajamu Baly for approval and signature.
“As the calculation and placement process continues to progress closer to the finish line, I take this time to thank all personnel of the Ministry of Justice for their patience,” Minister Richardson said. “I promised to provide updates to ensure that you are aware of the status of this process. I assure you, and everyone involved in these undertakings is working diligently to have this all completed within short.”
