Public Service Commission

Prior to 1952, appointments to the lower grades in the Civil Service were made by the Governor on the recommendation of a body known as the Promotion Selection Committee, comprising the Deputy Colonial Secretary, Financial Secretary, Auditor General and President of the Civil Service Association.

The purpose of the establishment of the Commission was to provide for an independent and impartial body charged with the responsibility of dealing with matters relating to the appointment, removal and exercise of disciplinary control in respect of public officers. At this time the Public Service Commission (PSC) operated out of the Establishment Branch of the Colonial Secretary’s Office located at Headquarters House, 79 Duke Street, Kingston.

The power was given to the PSC to make recommendations to the Governor General for public officers to be appointed, as well as to remove or exercise disciplinary control. This was enshrined in the 1959 Constitution, and at the same time provision for the delegation of functions of the Public Service Commission was made by the Governor General, acting on the recommendation of the Public Service Commission.

Current Members

  • Mrs Patricia Sinclair McCalla, CD, JP
         Chairman
  • Bishop, The Hon. Herro V. Blair, OJ, JP
  • Prof. The Hon. Denise Eldemire-Shearer, OJ, CD
  • Miss Khadrea Folkes

Functions of the Commission

The functions and operations of the Public Service Commission were established in the Public Service Regulations which was gazetted in 1961. The Regulations set out how the Commission would operate with regard to the appointment, separation, discipline and the selection of public officers for national scholarships and study leave. The applicability and legality of the Regulations was entrenched in Section 2 of the Second Schedule of the Jamaica Constitution Order in Council, which came into being a year later, 1962, with Independence.