UNION boss Ed Ball Jr. last night laid down the law to senior civil servants who may be "compromising the integrity of the service".

And he urged all members of the service to follow clearly defined complaints procedures if they felt their position was being undermined.

The Bermuda Public Service Union General Secretary spoke out after reading allegations made by civil servants in this newspaper of

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political interference by Government Ministers, including Premier Ewart Brown.

Mr. Ball said: "The BPSU expects that all civil servants will follow the established rules and policies in carrying out their job duties.

"It is the responsibility of Permanent Secretaries and other senior civil servants to act as the buffer in carrying out edicts of the Cabinet and/or Ministers so that there is a separation of the political arm of Government and the neutrality of the Civil Service.

"No Permanent Secretary can act outside of a statute, the Financial Orders, the Code of Conduct or other established protocols without possibly compromising the integrity of the service and by extension the officer contriving their respective duties.

"The Constitution of Bermuda and the Public Service Commission and its Regulations clearly define the roles and functions of civil servants in relations to the running of apolitical civil service.

"The Dignity of Work Document has the blessings of the majority of unions who did have input in the drafting. More importantly the document acts as another source of maintaining a statistical data bank for all cases of harassment, bullying etc. The document does not replace the grievance procedure or the role of the union in representing members.

"The Dignity at Work process allows a neutral person to hear a case and to make a recommendation to correct a wrong or that there is no case. The civil servant can always grieve the matter to the union if he/she is not satisfied with the investigator's recommendation.

"If a civil servant feels that there are possible misuses of power by a Minister or a senior civil servant, they must report the alleged infraction to the union or their PS, or the Head of the Civil Service so that a complete investigation can take place. It is called "find the strength of your convictions to do the right thing with out fear".

"Sometimes, a junior civil servant may not know the full extent the of the details which may on face value present the appearance wrong doing. Those words may not be attributable to the matter of this newspaper report, but this balance point must also be noted. However, the key is if the civil servant has not reported the alleged wrongdoing, the matter can not be investigated.

"The procedure of reporting and investigating possible ministerial interference has been used under the previous UBP Government and the same rules apply today if a Minister of the PLP Government or a civil servant is acting outside of their remit.