00:00it's okay centered on the salaries review commission's 120th report which recommended
00:07lower salary scales for future holders of the office of the director and deputy director of
00:13the police complaints authority it was the same src report which was met with intense public
00:19and economic debate regarding the timing and magnitude of back pay and high office hikes
00:26amid wider wage negotiations it recommended a 47 increase for the prime minister and a 25 increase
00:35for ministers but for the pca while current office holders remain protected the police complaints
00:42authority argues the process leading to those recommendations was unfair lacked proper
00:48consultation and breached its legitimate expectation of being consulted before any changes were made
00:55justice frank sipesad high court judge rejected those arguments finding the commission's process
01:01was fair rational and consistent with its constitutional responsibilities in his ruling justice sipesad said
01:08quote fairness is not synonymous with rigidity its content is inherently contextual and must remain
01:15sufficiently flexible to accommodate advances in professional standards developments in evaluative
01:21methodologies and the practical realities confronting modern public administration end quote the judge noted
01:29that the salaries review commission oversees approximately 325 public offices occupied by about 950 office
01:38holders and accepted evidence that it adopted internationally recognized job evaluation and compensation
01:45methodologies to ensure consistency across the public service seabesad found the commission was entitled to modernize its approach
01:53rather than remain bound by practice used in previous salary reviews justice seabesad also rejected claims that the commission failed
02:02to consult with the authority
02:04the judgment found the director and deputy director participated in job analysis questionnaires interviews and reviews of their job descriptions
02:12before the evaluation process was completed
02:15seabesad said quote the commission operated objectively reasonably fairly and strictly adhered to establish guidelines and applied objective criteria end
02:26quote the court ruled there was no constitutional requirement for office holders to participate in every stage of the evaluation
02:33process including the scoring of positions or compensation surveys it also found no evidence that the commission relied on undisclosed
02:42adverse information or departed from
02:45accepted industry standards addressing concerns raised by the claimants about reduced salaries for future office holders justice seabesad said those
02:54arguments related to the wisdom of the recommendation rather than the legality of the process he said quote remuneration is
03:02always a sensitive and emotive issue but employees have no right or privilege to be paid more than the employer
03:08is prepared to pay based upon the fair and objective worth of the particular contribution
03:15end quote the court also found that the commission was entitled to replace older consultation practices with a more objective
03:22system based on professional job evaluation
03:25the judgment read quote a constitutional body cannot be expected to discharge that mandate by adhering slavishly to historical practices
03:34where more objective reliable and professionally accepted methodologies have become available
03:39end quote in dismissing the claim in dismissing the claim justice seabesad concluded that the commission had acted within its
03:44constitutional authority and that the process used to prepare the 120th salaries review commission report was fair objective and legally
03:52sound
03:53or was you to worry rupnerine tv6 news
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