IDT promises ruling on doctors’ allowance dispute as soon as practicable

KINGSTON, Jamaica— The Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) is urging patience as it seeks to settle the dispute between the Jamaica Medical Doctors’ Association (JMDA) and the Government over emergency duty allowance (compensation for extra hours worked).

Earlier this week, President of the Jamaica Medical Doctors’ Association (JMDA), Dr Jubilee Brown-Service, said the association “cannot guarantee normalcy in the health sector” if the IDT does not hand down a ruling by Friday.

“We are fully aware that unusual delays in handing down awards could erode the public’s confidence in the work of the IDT as a quasi-judicial body charged with the responsibility of balancing justice between employers and workers in the industrial relations system. While the legal maxim holds true that ‘justice delayed is justice denied’, we remain mindful that in complex and intricate matters, requiring extensive review of exhibits and authorities, ‘justice must also be careful’,” the IDT said in a press release on Wednesday.