The Tribune

By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

THE Public Hospitals Authority’s (PHA) managing director yesterday warned employees it is a case of when, not if, they will receive all due overtime pay as she warned: “If the dollars are not here, I cannot pay it out.”

Dr Aubynette Rolle, speaking to healthcare workers on a Zoom call, said she is “working to get the overtime dollars” but this will involve discussions with the Ministry of Finance about obtaining more taxpayer dollars after the Authority exhausted its allocated overtime budget during the first three months of the 2025-2026 Budget year.

She signalled that the outcome of these talks is uncertain, adding that is yet to be determined “how” overtime for December - which she described as a “huge amount” - will be paid. This indicates that not all may be paid in PHA staff’s January pay cheques that are due this week.

In a voice note obtained by Tribune Business, Dr Rolle said “there seems to be miscommunication and clarity does not seem to be in the room”. She added that at no time did she advise or write that persons who have worked authorised overtime would not be paid.

Confirming that the overtime budget allocated for the 2025-2026 fiscal year has been exhausted, Dr Rolle said she has taken steps to address the matter. 

“Now I want to assure you, as the managing director talking face to face with you, that immediately when advised that we had exhausted the budget, I started one of two things,” she said. “One, please tell me by institution, what is total budget expenditure to date, what is owed in the various hospitals, corporate office and agencies. I also said: ‘Let me see the departments where we are so I can look at criticalities of where these are happening’.”

Dr Rolle said two days was spent gathering information, and she has another meeting scheduled for today to discuss strategy. After that meeting she will be able to provide an update, adding said only one monthly overtime payment, for December, and which should be applied for January’s payday, has not occurred. The PHA chief said “December was a huge amount”.

“Not that it wouldn't be paid, but I now need to have the discussions on how it would be paid,” Dr Rolle explained. “Do we have the capacity? We, meaning the Government and the Ministry of Finance. I have to be guided by those persons. Will we be able to pay all one time? Will we be able to pay them in tranches? How will we pay in tranches? And when will we end it, and then also, the biggest element is how we move forward with having the availability of funding for futuristic overtime that we know will happen based on shortages, etc. 

“That is the position. That is what I made over. I am working to get the overtime dollars, but if the dollars are not here, I cannot pay it out. That is why, the minute I noticed, I sent out a notice for it to come to you, to be able to advise you on the position, not that you would not be paid for it. You have to be paid for it; the Employment Act speaks to it. I sit here as your leader to ensure that if you have worked and it has been authorised, you will be paid. There is no employer who should be doing anything different, and the PHA will pay you.”

Dr Rolle encouraged PHA employees that “when you need clarity, ensure that the clarity is coming from the correct place”. She added that besides satisfying outstanding monies for workers, the Authority will also be tidying up the overtime processes in terms of early notification “and other elements”.

“Because there is no organisation that can just continue to move forward without having clear controls in place that are being followed,” Dr Rolle said. “But, more importantly, for me, as your leader, your voice, to know timely so that I am in a position to make those timely notifications to see how best we can move forward. All of these come from the agencies and institutions.”

Muriel Lightbourn, the Bahamas Nurses Union president, told Tribune Business she did attend the meeting in its entirety but added that they have already tightened up on overtime.

“My point is this, though. Every nursing officer does their job,” Ms Lightbourn said. “Let me tell you, before any nursing officer calls in overtime, they look around the hospital and they look to see if there's somebody on another ward or another area that they could put in that person’s place or on that ward that needs that overtime person. And only after they've satisfied that they cannot find someone to go in that place, or go to that particular ward to assist, then they go into calling overtime. 

“Those overtimes have to be approved. You have to justify, they have to justify to their supervisor why they've called in an overtime, why they need to overtime. So all these hoops you got to jump through, and then at the end of the day you gone tell me, me getting paid is still based on... No. That doesn't make sense. What you're saying, you're not satisfied that the supervisors that you have in place can make that judgment and make a judgment call. 

“We already tightened up on overtime, because now they're saying that before they call a nurse who is off-duty where you have to pay double time, they would rather call the nurse who is working either shift, the shift before or the shift after, where they pay them time-and-a-half. How much more? How much more you could try to do with the overtime? How much more you could try to put some restriction on overtime? Overtime is only called if there's a need. Ain't nobody is call nobody just for calling them sake.”

Dr Charelle Lockhart, the Consultant Physicians Staff Association president, added: “I don't know how that is going to be humanly possible. She has requested that, and so if that's how she wants it to be organised moving forward, that's what's going to have to happen. But I don't know how that's going to be humanly possible for the amount of overtime that is necessary in our institutions.”

The Government’s own Budget data for the 2025-2026 fiscal year shows the PHA was allocated some $247.856m in Bahamian taxpayer funds, representing a $15.4m or 6.6 percent increase over the prior year’s $232.456m. However, the Authority had already spent $203.665m or 87.6 percent its 2024-2025 budget after just nine months. At that pace, the PHA was on course to spend a total $254.58m for the 2024-2025 full Budget year, meaning it would have overshot its allocation by almost $22m.

Ryan Bastian, the PHA’s deputy financial controller, in a January 13, 2026, memorandum that was sent to all hospital administrators, financial controllers and their deputies, plus payroll departments, said the Authority is implementing “mandatory managing director approval for overtime payments”.

He wrote: “This memo serves as formal notice on the direction of the managing director [Dr Rolle], effective immediately (January 2026 pay period), that all overtime payments require prior approval from the managing director’s office before they can be processed.

“With effect from the January 2026 pay period, payroll departments are required to notify the managing director’s office of any overtime payable and obtain written approval from the managing director before any overtime amounts are entered on to the pay sheet and processed. Overtime payments are not to be included in payroll processing without the managing director’s written authorisation.”

Explaining the rationale for the move, Mr Bastian added: “As of September 2025, the overtime budget allocation has been exhausted. This control is being implemented to preserve funding for urgent priorities (for example, critical hires) and to strengthen oversight of overtime expenditure. Your full co-operation and strict adherence to this requirement are appreciated.”