Ministry staff paid to stay at home

Press, 25 August 1988, Page 5

Ministry staff paid to stay at home

PA Wellington Paying former staff of the Ministry of Works and Development to stay at home will have cost almost $600,000 by the end of September, the Minister of Works and Development, Mr Neilson, says.

Since April 1, when the old Ministry went out of existence, a total of 73 staff have been on paid leave for varying periods. Most found jobs with the new Works Corporation, and others were absorbed by other Government departments. However, 396 people were left in limbo and became the responsibility of the residual management unit (R.M.U.), set up to take care of unfinished business.

Many were senior staff, including a former Commissioner of Works, Mr Graeme Shadwell, and an assistant commissioner, Mr Tony Town. Work could not be found for many of them so 73 have been at home on paid leave. Two deadlines were set for paying off the surplus staff: July 29 for workers who had declined equivalent positions in the Works Corporation; and September 30 for staff who had not found other jobs in the public service and were not required for the wind-up operation. Mr Neilson said 10 people were paid off at the end of July because their refusal to accept jobs with the new corporation "was deemed to be equivalent to resignation”.

“Our programme is not only good for the individual — to date we have placed 161 people in jobs — but it has also saved the taxpayer considerably more.

"Offering people jobs in the public service and redeployment assistance will have cost about $B.l million by the end of this year — a considerable saving on the $l3 million for the alternative of paying everyone severance on day one.”