— Prison Director says procedures were not followed

By Shauna Jemmott
RUEL Alleyne-John, a nurse attached to the Guyana Prison Service is alleging wrongful dismissal, but Prisons Director Carl Graham said she did not follow the correct procedure in submitting a medical certificate or any request for sick leave, resulting in stern action being taken against her.Alleyne-John, the lone nurse attached to the New Amsterdam jail contacted the Guyana Chronicle and expressed dissatisfaction with her dismissal, even after she had submitted a copy of her medical.
She reportedly fell sick on a vacation trip to the United States of America (USA) on her annual leave.
The nurse said her medical certificate is genuine, but she was unaware that she was required to report to the Guyana Consulate in the USA and have her medical stamped by that organisation before being forwarded to prison officials.
Alleyne-John said she spent her vacation leave in the months of April and May in New York.
“I reported sick after I get sick. I call through Deputy Director of Prisons. I send him a picture of my medical. He say it [is] ok. It [medical] says I was able to work from August 1, 2016. I come back and send it to Berbice prison,” the woman explained.
Apart from that, she said she had reported sick to the officer-in-charge at the prison, who was then responsible for communicating such to the Office of the Director of Prisons.
Alleyne-John said on her return, she telephoned the New Amsterdam Prison to find out what shift she was working, but the secretary to the Officer-in-Charge told her she could not work.
The secretary informed her that the Officer-in-Charge said she was on recommended dismissal.
While she stayed at home all August, she collected a letter of dismissal later that month, and she also observed other things which seemed unusual.
“I collect a dismissal letter the last week in August that was mail [sic] to my mom[sic] address,” the distraught woman said.
She also observed that she stopped receiving salary in July, and $41,000 was deducted the previous month.
“If I was on recommend dismissal [sic] why my salary stop in July? If I report sick in May and June month $41,000 was deducted from [my] salary and up to now I [cannot]get it,” she told the Guyana Chronicle.
“My [dismissal letter] say my dismissal has been approved. That’s all! Under no grounds! I bring my medical, I asked before I come [and] they say it’s ok. What must I do now?”
In the dismissal letter shown to the Guyana Chronicle addressed to Ruel Alleyne-John, Woman Prison Officer #3228, the entire body of the letter signed by Graham read, “Be informed that approval has been granted for you to be dismissed from the Guyana Prison Service with effect from 2016-07-01. You are to hand in immediately to the storekeeper of [the] Georgetown Prison all Government property issued to you.”
The woman said when she reported sick while still in the USA, the prison officials never informed her that she needed to take her medical to be stamped by the Guyana Consulate in the USA.
“That is not fair! But he didn’t tell me that. It is a medical. I see no reason for dismissing me and I brought a medical.”
Meanwhile, when the Guyana Chronicle contacted Graham, he said Alleyne-John failed to follow the correct procedure, and the procedure and reason for her dismissal were “quite transparent.”
Graham said he never received a call from Alleyne-John informing him that she was sick.
“She said nothing! She hadn’t the courtesy to call, nothing!” Graham told the Guyana Chronicle.
He said other employees who fell ill during their vacation sent their requests for sick leave, with medical stamped by the office of the Guyana Consulate, through the Ministry of Public Security.
Concerning pay deductions, Graham said, “We cannot pay officers while they are off the job – or having any public official drawing Government’s money. This is an area that we are short-handing in. I cannot have her drawing money under false pretence!”
He said he sent a letter to the ministry and her dismissal was recommended.
Graham also recommended that Alleyne-John write a formal complaint to the Minister Khemraj Ramjattan explaining what went wrong.
“That was my first time in [the] USA on leave. I don’t even know the place. Is not like well it’s the second time or a normal thing. But I am not one of the lucky ones, so I was sent home for no reason after five years of service and all my benefits going down the drain,” the mother of two told the Guyana Chronicle.