August 18, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Officers have a right to know who the Selection Board Members are in advance
The MUT wrote to the Executive Secretary at the Public Service Commission (PSC) after it was informed that the PSC notified an officer who was going to attend an interview that he has no right to know the constitution of the interviewing board. The Union asked for clarification as the practice in recent years has been that persons applying for a public post had the right to know who will be interviewing them in case there is a conflict of interest.
In reply to this, the Executive Secretary stated that contrary to this, it has never been the practice of the Commission to make the composition of selection boards known to candidates prior to the interview. The PSC also stated that it considers that the current practice, of not divulging the names of selection board members to candidates prior to the interview, is to be retained.
The Union, however, reiterated that it has been the norm in recent years that candidates could be made aware of who the interviewers making up the interviewing board are. The MUT has in fact had a number of cases where the composition of the board was contested in advance of the interviews. Moreover, if this were theoretically not the practice, it does not mean that things cannot change especially since the Union strongly believes that the PSC should be a guiding light in terms of transparency. The Union therefore asked the PSC to reconsider.
