GG’s former press secretary demands $31m in unpaid wages 

Attorneys representing the Attorney General’s (AG) Chambers have remained tight-lipped amid a demand for more than $31 million in unpaid wages filed by the legal team for discarded King’s House Press Secretary Sonja Simms.

The multimillion-dollar demand follows the March 2026 adjournment of a constitutional claim brought by lawyers for Simms, after the State’s legal team reportedly agreed to settle.

Simms’ attorney, Hugh Wildman, who brought the claim against the State that his client was unlawfully removed from her post at King’s House, said the Government’s lawyers have yet to provide a formal rebuttal, weeks after the case management adjournment.

“This state of affairs is untenable,” Wildman told The Gleaner.

“The Attorney General’s [Chambers], having come to court twice and informed the court that they want to settle the matter and the court, quite rightly, accommodated them by granting an adjournment for the settlement, refuse to communicate to us as to the terms of their settlement,” he added.

He said multiple attempts to reach the State’s attorneys have been futile, after writing to indicate the terms of the claims.

“And not a response from the Attorney General’s Chambers. It is disgraceful,” the attorney said.

Questions sent by The Gleaner to the AG’s Chambers last week were not answered.

The newspaper was unable to reach the office by telephone.

Simms is claiming $31.2 million in unpaid retroactive and full salaries.

Her claim, initially brought before the Constitutional Court, centred on her removal from the office of press secretary at King’s House, which she alleges violated the Jamaican Constitution.

Simms claimed that during a meeting in December 2021 with Governor General (GG) Sir Patrick Allen, she was granted 30 days of compassionate leave and reportedly received oral permission to “do anything she chooses” during that time.

She said in a December 6, 2021 letter from the GG’s secretary, the leave was confirmed along with instructions for her to seek a psychiatric evaluation.

Later that month, on December 21, she said she emailed the Office of the Governor General to advise that she would be travelling overseas, to New York, during her leave.

She said the evaluation was done while she was overseas.

Simms said upon resuming her duties on January 3, 2022, she was met by the governor general’s secretary and the HR director and instructed to go home because she had travelled abroad without prior approval.

She said she received a letter later that day telling her to await further instructions.

Days later, she said she received a letter telling her to contact the Office of the Services Commission (OSC) with any issues she might have.

She said she was officially removed from the governor general’s payroll, effective April 1, 2022, which was communicated in a letter dated April 28, 2022.

Simms said that in June 2022, she received notice that she was to be reinstated in a different post of “equivalent capacity” within the public service, rather than her original role.

She said she was never given a hearing, notice or told of the proceedings against her.

She said between September and October 2022, she received $15,000 monthly from the Accountant General Department.

Simms said since November 2022 to date, she has received no payment and wrote to the OSC, “to no avail”.

Simms, through Wildman, subsequently sought several court declarations under Section 125 of the Constitution of Jamaica, which governs the appointment and removal of public officers.

She asked the court to declare at the time that she was a public officer who could only be removed through the specific procedures outlined in Section 125, involving the governor-general acting on the advice of the Public Service Commission.

Simms wanted the court to declare, among other things, that the actions taken by the governor general’s secretary to prevent her from continuing her employment amounted to a removal that bypassed constitutional requirements.

She had also sought a declaration that she remained a public officer entitled to all benefits and full compensation from January 2022 to the date the claim is determined.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com