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by pltm
(PLTM) - The outstanding 2016 increments owed to Government workers can be expected to be paid by the end of February.
According to information from Government, a meeting between Deputy Governor, Mr. David Archer, Jr. and key stakeholders from the Human Resources Department, Treasury Department and Department of Information Technology sought to establish a clear plan for the finalisation of the payment of increments to remaining public officers.
The stakeholders noted that despite having to transition from the old JD Edwards System, which had been in place for 25 years to the new system, 2,892, or 90 percent of Public Officers have still been able to receive their 2016 increment and the balance of 250 officers are those who had status changes, promotions or were awaiting new job letters.
The Deputy Governor expressed gratitude to Public Officers for the hard work that they continue to do and thanked the team of officers who have been working diligently to get to this point in the distribution of increments.
Mr. Archer Jr. noted that their efforts have not gone unnoticed, adding, “While there have been some challenges that we have experienced in this process, we are fortunate – all things considered, that we have a chance to perfect the procedure for the processing of 2017 increments.”
The payment of increments for Public Officers for the periods 2016 and 2017 was approved by Cabinet in June 2019.
Minister for Transportation, Works and Utilities, Hon. Kye Rymer, previously told his fellow legislators that public officers were unhappy with the non-payment of the increments before the Christmas holidays.
During the October 17 sitting of the House of Assembly, Premier and Minister for Finance Hon. Andrew Fahie, explained that he was also fielding inquiries about the promised public service increment.
In outlining that the Government had done its part Hon. Fahie stated that during his Budget Address on April 2, after only close to two months in office he announced that his Government was able to massage the estimates to include the payment of two years of increments due to public officers.
The Premier explained that on June 19, Cabinet approved the payment of the 2016 and 2017 increments in lieu of performance increments with the immediate payment of the 2016 increments, inclusive of all salaries from 1st January 2017 to date. A commitment was also made to pay 2017 increments subsequently, but not later than the next budget estimate.
Further Hon. Fahie said that he was advised by the Director of Human Resources that on June 24 the Department of Human Resources provided notice and instructions for processing of the increment for the 2016 work year by way of a Human Resources Circular.
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