WILLEMSTAD – The Court of First Instance has given the Curaçao government until November 20, 2026, to make long-overdue decisions concerning the employment status of 17 current and former civil servants, including police officers, firefighters and prison personnel, after previous court rulings and financial penalties failed to produce results.
The ruling highlights a persistent problem within Curaçao's public administration, where government authorities have repeatedly failed to implement binding judicial decisions involving public employees.
The 17 civil servants had previously taken their cases to court and obtained favorable judgments. However, despite those rulings, the government has continued to delay the administrative decisions necessary to resolve their employment-related claims.
In six of the cases, the government has already paid the maximum court-imposed penalties without taking the required action.
One civil servant told the court that he had received the maximum penalty payment on three separate occasions for the same request, originally submitted in 2019. Seven years later, his case remains unresolved.
The government acknowledged the delays but attributed them to organizational difficulties and administrative problems within the public service.
Government representatives also argued that imposing additional financial penalties does not necessarily resolve the underlying problems preventing the implementation of court decisions.
External attorneys have since been brought in to assist with clearing the backlog of unresolved cases.
However, the court emphasized that the government's obligation to comply with judicial rulings cannot be disregarded because of internal administrative difficulties.
The judge expressed concern about the consequences of continued noncompliance for public confidence in the justice system and the credibility of the rule of law.
The repeated payment of penalties also raises concerns about the use of public funds, as taxpayers ultimately bear the financial consequences when government institutions fail to act on binding court decisions.
The court has now given the government until November 20 to issue the outstanding decisions.
If the deadline passes without compliance, additional financial penalties will be imposed.
The ruling places renewed pressure on the government to demonstrate that its efforts to address administrative backlogs can produce concrete results.
For the affected civil servants, some of whom have waited years for their cases to be resolved, the November deadline represents another opportunity to obtain the decisions already required by the courts.