Fingerprint Clock‑Ins Coming to Public Service, Union Raises Concerns

A new system is quietly changing how public officers report for work, and it’s already stirring debate. The Government of Belize is rolling out a new human resource management system that includes biometric time and attendance devices in ministries and departments nationwide. Officials say the transition to NeoPeople is a step toward a more modern and efficient public service, but union leaders aren’t at all convinced. Public Service Union President Dean Flowers is raising concerns about worker consultation, data privacy, and employee rights. We spoke with him about why this rollout is meeting resistance from union leadership.

 

Dean Flowers, President, Public Service Union

“The primary concerns as it relates to this initiative by the Ministry of Finance stems from the fact that there was no consultation with the PSU on this matter. Why was there suppose to be consultation, because the law says that anything you will do that changes the terms and conditions of service for public servants, there has to be a conversation. And this is a new initiative being introduced that will affect how public officers are managed and can be weaponized if it is that it will be guided by algorithm that we don’t know who will write. The minister of Public Service would have attempted and tried to diminish our concerns to simply clocking in and out and as you would have seen from the circular or memorandum, it goes beyond that to manage the entire p-file of public officers by a third party.”

 

Paul Lopez

“What is the p-file?”

 

Dean Flowers

“Your whole life, in terms of your employment letter, your letter of service, your salary, whether you taking out loans, your bank letters, appraisals, discipline, sick leave, if you are requesting assistance, or employee assistance. Your entire life is documented in that p-file. So we have to ensure that our data rights are protected. The introduction of the circular also suggests that there is considerable breach of the Data Protection Act. The Data Protection Act gives subjects, public officers and any other person whose data is being managed, certain rights and it also requires consent.”

 

Public Service Union Threatens Legal Action Over NeoPeople

 

The battle over the government’s new HR system is moving out of the office and edging closer to the courtroom. The Public Service Union says it is now escalating its challenge to the rollout of NeoPeople, warning that legal action is on the table over what it describes as a troubling lack of transparency. After formally requesting details under the Freedom of Information Act, ranging from how the system was procured to who has access to sensitive employee data, PSU President Dean Flowers says the union has hit a wall. According to Flowers, key questions about the contract, data protections, and safeguards for public officers remain unanswered. With frustration mounting, he says the union is prepared to let a judge decide whether the government is obligated to come clean.

 

Dean Flowers, President, Public Service Union

“From a financial standpoint it is also a concerned, because we have not seen any tender documents. We don’t know if this contract was entered into from a competitive bidding process or a limited tender process, we don’t know, which raise a bigger question, what will it cost us? The rumor have it that it will cost us to maintain such a system, almost three million dollars a year. If it is costing us almost three million a year, which is fourteen dollars per public officers for twelve months at seventeen thousand public officers, for how long with tax payers have to pay the maintenance of this three million a year, how long is the duration of the contract, what is the content of the contract and who owns the data? Will the data be held hostage when the government decides not to renew with the provider? As we speak the Financial Secretary is in breach of the Freedom of Information Act where this matter is concerned, we would have written to him for disclosure and he would have allowed this time to expire. The only recourse we had was the Ombudsman. Well we know how this administration feel about the Ombudsman because they ensured that they removed the Ombudsman by not renewing his contract because he was doing his job. The only other recourse is judicial review. We will have to take the Financial Secretary to the court for disclosure. We have gotten that approval and that matter is now with our attorneys.”

 

We will continue to follow this story as it develops to find out if court proceedings will yield favorable results for the PSU’s information request.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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