Ian Green v Public Service Commission (Trinidad and Tobago); Ian Green and another v Public Service Commission No 2 (Trinidad and Tobago)

Facts

The respondent, Ian Green, served as a Fire Sub-Station Officer in the Fire Service of Trinidad and Tobago from 1 August 1998 until his retirement in December 2015. In 2006 he asked the Chief Fire Officer to determine, under regulation 8(1)(b) of the Fire Service (Terms and Conditions of Employment) Regulations 1998, that his Post-Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management was a qualification equivalent to the Graduate Diploma of the Institution of Fire Engineers; he had passed neither the job-related written examination nor held that diploma. The Chief Fire Officer's memorandum of 12 July 2006 raised no objection subject to concurrence, but the Chief Personnel Officer advised on 15 December 2006 that the diploma was not equivalent, and a letter of 11 May 2007 written on the Chief Fire Officer's behalf so informed the respondent, while exempting him from the management studies examination. That determination was never challenged. When the Public Service Commission promoted five other officers on 24 March 2015, confirmed by Fire Service Order No 4 of 2015 dated 21 April 2015, the respondent sought judicial review. Seepersad J dismissed the claim on 14 December 2016. The Court of Appeal allowed his appeal on 16 December 2022 and, on 11 December 2023, ordered damages to be assessed. The Commission appealed both orders to the Board.