Prime Minister Gaston Browne has warned employees of the Office of National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy who are working reduced hours to resume full eight-hour workdays, accusing some members of staff of “gaming the system” while continuing to receive their full salaries.

Speaking Saturday on the Browne and Browne Show, Browne said the ONDCP building had been repaired and cleared for occupancy after concerns were raised about mould and air quality. However, he said a group of employees had either refused to return to work fully or had been reporting for only four hours each day.

“The latest thing now is that they have refused to work eight hours,” Browne said. “My understanding is they’re going in for four hours.”

The prime minister said one medical test had reportedly been conducted on employees to determine whether they were suffering from respiratory problems linked to mould, but he understood that none of the results was positive. He said a second round of testing was now underway.

Browne questioned why the testing arrangement had been approved after the building was assessed, repaired and declared suitable for occupancy by the person responsible for examining its air quality and testing for mould.

“The building was actually cleared, it was repaired, and the person who is responsible to test the air quality and to test for mould said that there’s nothing stopping them from going to work,” he said.

The prime minister also questioned the reliability of the additional testing, saying it could produce false-positive results and make it difficult to determine where an employee may have been exposed to mould.

Browne argued that an employee could potentially be exposed at home or another location, making it difficult to establish that the ONDCP building was responsible for any positive result.

“Having cleared the fact that the building currently is free of mould, I think that is a standard that should have been established and enforced,” he said.

Browne said some ONDCP employees, particularly those involved in financial crimes, had returned to work. However, he said another group had remained away from the office for about five months while repairs were being carried out and was now working only half-days.

“Initially, they weren’t going for about five months, and maybe for good reasons, because we were fixing the building,” Browne said. “And now they’re working half-time, half-day, which is not good enough. They need to go to work fully.”

He said he had instructed the permanent secretary to step aside from managing the dispute and had asked ONDCP Director Lt. Col. Edward Croft to address the situation.

Browne said the employees should be treated fairly but warned that those who continue to refuse to work full days should face appropriate action.

“I’ll be fair to them, but at the same time, those who decide that they don’t want to work and insist on going to work four hours a day, deal with them accordingly,” he said.

The prime minister also alleged that some employees may be engaged in other jobs and are benefiting from being away from their regular duties. He did not present evidence during the programme to support the allegation.

“My understanding is some of them, they are moonlighting, so the longer they can stay home and work half a day or don’t work at all, the better,” Browne said.

He argued that employees should not be permitted to receive their full government salaries while failing to provide a full day’s work.

“We’re going to be very tough on them because, as I said, they are definitely gaming the system and they’re not cooperating,” Browne said.

The prime minister described ONDCP as a quasi-law enforcement organisation and an essential service whose intelligence-gathering role is particularly important as the government responds to increased crime and violence.

He said the government is strengthening cooperation among the country’s law enforcement agencies, including the police and Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force, and needs ONDCP operating at full capacity.

“If at this time, when we have a heightened and increased amount of crime and violence where we need intelligence of them, they decide they’re not going to go to work, then obviously they don’t care about the country and its people,” Browne said.

He added: “ONDCP is critical from an intelligence standpoint, and that is why we are forcing them and pushing them and urging them to go back to work as soon as possible.”

Browne stressed that the government expects employees to return on a full-time basis, “not part-time.”

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: VIDEO: PM Vows Crackdown on ONDCP Employees Collecting Full Salaries for Half-Days.