Derek Achong

For­mer chief mag­is­trate Mar­cia Ay­ers-Cae­sar has qui­et­ly re­sumed du­ties as a High Court Judge, weeks af­ter the Privy Coun­cil ruled she was im­prop­er­ly pres­sured to re­sign in 2017. Though she re­turned last month, her name has not yet been added to the Ju­di­cia­ry’s of­fi­cial list of judges. Le­gal sources say she has so far han­dled on­ly cham­ber mat­ters.

Ay­ers-Cae­sar is ex­pect­ed to en­ter com­pen­sa­tion talks with the Of­fice of the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al. If those fail, a ju­di­cial of­fi­cer will as­sess the amount owed. Her res­ig­na­tion in 2017 fol­lowed pub­lic crit­i­cism over 50 un­fin­ished cas­es. She lat­er claimed Chief Jus­tice Ivor Archie and the JLSC forced her res­ig­na­tion un­der threat. While the Privy Coun­cil agreed she was pres­sured, it said a for­mal in­quiry un­der Sec­tion 137 would have been ap­pro­pri­ate.

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has said her Gov­ern­ment will con­sid­er the mat­ter be­fore mak­ing a de­ci­sion. The State has been or­dered to pay a lit­tle over $160,000 in com­pen­sa­tion to a for­mer Coast Guard of­fi­cer, who chal­lenged a de­ci­sion not to re-en­gage her un­til she at­tained manda­to­ry re­tire­ment age.