Cabinet approves overtime pay for election workers

Elections Officers. (Photo by Cleave Farrington)

The government has decided to amend the Elections Act to give workers overtime pay for work done during an election or referendum.

The workers who are eligible for overtime pay include staff of the Office of the Supervisor of Elections and other core support workers who help to make elections a success.

The decision is considered long overdue, especially since election workers have traditionally worked extraordinary hours when people go to the polls and have not been successful in getting successive administrations to approve overtime pay for them.

According to documents that show recent Cabinet decisions, the government has big plans for the Office of the Supervisor or Elections and instructions have been given to draft new legislation that will allow the Office of the Supervisor of Elections to become a department.

Later on, when the next Virgin Islands Constitution is finalized, that department will become an Electoral Commission. The new legislation will also provide for the establishment of an Electoral Advisory Committee that will have the statutory role to provide advice to the Supervisor of Elections on the performance of his/her functions.

The changes come amid long-standing calls for an upgrade to the Elections Act in the territory. After the 2023 general elections, Supervisor of Elections Scherrie Griffin called for a thorough assessment of the Act, saying the government should work towards implementing whatever reforms are necessary at the earliest possible opportunity.

“I think that the elections in itself need a comprehensive review. We need to move away from seemingly responding or making reforms to the legislation shortly before the next elections,” Griffin stated at the time.

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