Taxpayers face $8m bill as NSWMA axes legal director - Agency says contract termination resulted from ‘loss of confidence’

Taxpayers will be left footing the bill for nearly a year of unearned salary and benefits after the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) abruptly cut ties with its director of legal services, citing a “loss of confidence”.

In a May 18, 2026, letter seen by The Sunday Gleaner, NSWMA Executive Director Audley Gordon told Alecia Thomas that her April 2024 to April 2027 contract had been terminated.

The remaining 10 months are expected to cost taxpayers more than $8 million in salary and benefits, including 25 per cent gratuity and vacation payments.

Gordon, in the letter, said Thomas had failed to respond to several attempts to meet with NSWMA management that day, which necessitated the letter.

“After careful consideration, we regret to inform you that we have lost confidence in your ability to effectively carry out the duties and responsibilities required under the terms of your contract,” the letter read.

“As a result, we have taken the decision to bring your contract to an early termination with effective date May 18, 2026,” it said.

The NSWMA head said the decision was made in accordance with the state agency’s contractual rights and “does not constitute a disciplinary action”.

“In recognition of the remaining term of your contract, the organisation is prepared to compensate you in lieu of the unexpired portion. Accordingly, you will receive payment equivalent to your salary and any applicable benefits up to the original contract end date of April 1, 2027, less any statutory deductions,” he said.

Further, he said all outstanding entitlements would be settled in a timely manner and instructed the senior employee to return all company property in her possession that same day.

On Friday, The Sunday Gleaner contacted Gordon about the sudden termination, which has left the once three-member legal department without human resources.

The Sunday Gleaner sought to ascertain from Gordon the justification for using public funds to pay nearly a year’s salary to a dismissed employee, and whether the contractual payout was chosen to bypass formal disciplinary hearings and avoid an Industrial Disputes Tribunal challenge.

Additionally, Gordon was asked to disclose what specific issue triggered the urgent dismissal and what immediate arrangements are in place to fill the operational gap.

However, he declined to respond directly to the questions, noting that the matter is private.

“I am not at liberty to answer any question related to the private human resource arrangements of the National Solid Waste Management Authority in public … . We have to have some standard as a country, and private matters relating to any organisation is exactly that – private matters,” said Gordon, even as he conceded that the agency is a public body.

“You have Data Protection Act. You have all sorts of other privacy issues that we don’t just because it’s a public company go out and talk about our staff member,” he said.

When pressed about the agency’s potential exposure due to the absence of a functioning legal department – which, when staffed, oversees public procurement compliance, contract management, and other institutional risks – Gordon again declined to comment.

The termination comes two months after Thomas – in an email in which the permanent secretary for the Local Government and Community Development Ministry, Marsha Henry-Martin, was copied – asserted that the environment at the agency was unhealthy.

“There appears to be an environment within the organisation in which authority is at times exercised in a manner that creates fear, confusion, and uncertainty among staff, and which can result in persons being drawn into actions that do not accord with proper governance processes and [are] heavily transactional in nature. That is not healthy for the institution and ought not to be allowed to continue,” she said in the March 2026 email to Gordon.

The subject of the email, seen by The Sunday Gleaner, concerned the scope of the deputy executive director post and the alleged delegation of some of Gordon’s core functions to his deputy.

Thomas cited interference in her department and the alleged undermining and stalling of efforts to fill a vacant role.

She indicated that the permanent secretary was copied so that the challenges, reported staff intimidation, and broken reporting lines could be “fully appreciated and corrected at the ministerial level” by restoring proper boundaries and transparency.

Gordon, through his executive assistant, indicated that a memo sent to the legal director and her response would be placed on her file.

It is not clear whether the termination had been communicated to the interim board.

The NSWMA has not had a new board appointed since the last general election. While the life of the last board has been extended in the interim, it cannot make executive decisions.

While in place, the current board must restrict operations to routine administration, freeze new executive appointments, avoid major long-term contracts, and refer all significant decisions to the permanent secretary, a 2025 memo from the finance ministry directed.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com