Hyacinth Davis secures long-delayed NIS pension after Observer report

New York, USA — Hyacinth Davis, a former public-sector worker who spent more than 10 years trying to get her National Insurance Scheme pension benefits, says the matter has now been settled. She has linked the breakthrough to a Jamaica Observer article which, she said, helped move the case forward.

Davis worked with the Department of Correctional Services as a teacher at the Lower Esher Juvenile Correctional facility for girls in St Mary. She later served as an assistant superintendent between 1982 and 1988.

In an interview with the Observer last year, Davis said her problem stemmed from the department’s failure to remit her National Housing Trust and NIS contributions during her period of employment. She said the process left her facing “one obstacle after another”, while the department repeatedly maintained that it could not find her file.

After leaving government service in 1988, Davis settled in the United States. Over the years, she said, she made several trips to Jamaica, wrote letters, placed phone calls, and got help from former colleagues. Still, she said the matter did not begin to get “some real attention” until the Observer carried her story in April last year.

Davis said she also had a records issue with the Ministry of Education, where she worked before joining Correctional Services. However, she said that ministry was able to provide the documents showing her NIS and NHT contributions without difficulty.

At different points, Davis said she feared she would lose the benefits because her efforts appeared to be making no progress. Although the resolution came nearly a year after the article was published, she said she accepted the delay because officials had to review old details and account for changes made to the system over time.

“I am grateful the ordeal is over and I am very grateful to the Jamaica Observer, for assisting me,” Davis said. She also thanked staff at the NIS office in Kingston who worked on the matter and helped bring it to a successful close.