Retired cop accuses former employer of withholding gratuity

A retired 20-year veteran of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) is accusing his former employer of withholding his gratuity.

Using words like “unfair” and “disrespectful”, the retired police officer, Gideon Nathan, is pleading for an audience with the relevant authorities. He said the government is refusing to pay him gratuity after being forced to leave the RSVGPF for medical reasons.

“I did not join the police force with injuries. I came in healthy. People use to call me Hulk. I would run down any suspect in Kingstown, I was known as the dancing fat traffic police…,” Nathan who was Constable 751 told SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.

The aggrieved former lawman said that after long hours standing on the job, duties that led to poor eating habits, a heart procedure, and a fall in 2020 down the stairs of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) while chasing a mentally unstable detainee, he became unwell and could not carry out his duties the way that he should.

He also accused his former employer of forcing him to take a COVID-19 vaccine (that made him suffer seizures) even after almost dying of the virus and this was made worse as he also came down with Dengue Fever around the same time.

Explaining further, Nathan said he joined the RSVGPF on May 14, 2004 and retired on October 9, 2023, having worked in all areas of the Force. That included stints at CID, the Rapid Response Unit (RRU), the Traffic Department and even doing undercover work.

He described himself as an exemplary lawman who in 2010, just after six months at the CID, was judged to be the most improved detective. In 2015 he was also given the most outstanding police officer award for his work in Paget Farm, Bequia.

Nathan said he also worked as a coordinator with the Police Youth Clubs in Redemption Sharpes, Edinboro, Ottley Hall and Bequia, and he served as the police Santa during Christmas events.

“…the well-known injury that put me out of commission for a year was when I fell down CID steps… I dislocated my right shoulder, the ligaments were torn, the bone came out of the socket, I injured my spine and neck and several other severe and permanent injuries that still affect me,” Nathan told SEARCHLIGHT, while adding that he needed six months of therapy after the fall, and was forced to cover most of the cost of treatment himself.

He said when he retired and tried to claim his gratuity, he was told that because of the amount of time he spent on sick leave, he owed the government money and not the other way around. Nathan also claimed that the authorities are saying that they have no record of his fall in 2020.

“They are saying they have no records of a lot of my issues, even no record of my fall. I sat in an office when an Inspector responsible for my gratuity said I use to report sick and don’t carry in sick leave.

“I have all the copies of my sick leave and medicals. I asked to see my personal file and they refused, but as a police officer, I learn to make copies of everything,” the aggrieved father of two teenage boys said.

He said he once spoke to Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Dr. Ralph Gonsalves ,but never received a proper reply and he is currently begging for an audience.

“I don’t want to be in war with anyone. All I want is to sit with them and show them my medical records, show them what I have and come to an amicable solution. I never got an audience that is rightfully due.

“I feel like Billy Button- work for nothing, no pension, no gratuity, and they say I owe the government over 90,000 dollars because of being sick so long. They say my sick days came out of my money so I can get no gratuity,” Nathan lamented.

He also alleged that when he contracted COVID-19, there was a bet of EC$250 and a bottle of Hennessy between several of his colleagues that he would die as two police officers had died from the virus.

“I was treated badly. I went above and beyond, and I think I am entitled to have an audience. I served my country. The injuries I got on the job, the medication affects me,” Nathan stressed.

“I retired over a year and nobody check me. My son wanted to leave school to help the family. I am not at war with nobody but they have treated me like [excrement].

“Why are you treating me like this? I have never been kicked out and I saw officers who did worse than me who got a second chance.”

Nathan said that if anyone has evidence that he was a bad police officer, they need to show it and he will accept that. He said that if he had remained healthy, he would have continued working even though he had limitations.

“Twenty years was spent serving. Sometimes my family did not see me. This is not a political issue. They are showing me that my time was not worth anything to them.

“I am trying to do a business and can’t get financial help from no institution because I don’t have a job. All I want is an audience and for them to hear my side and rectify it.”

A source at the Police Welfare Department said on Wednesday that Nathan owes the government money because he went over his stipulated sick leave days. SEARCHLIGHT was referred to the Acting Commissioner of Police (COP), Enville Williams for a comment but he is out of state on official police business.