BackIn March 2023, an instructor from a Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) Centre complained to the Ombudsman Commission alleging wrongful retirement and termination from the Payroll System whilst still ineffective service.
The Commission held a series of case conferences with the Salary and Payroll Section of the government department responsible in 2023. The case conferences confirmed that the instructor served at the TVET centre and hence was wrongfully retired and ceased from payroll.
Further review of the instructor’s pay file and payroll by the Salary and Payroll Section revealed that an error occurred within the payroll system when it selected another retired teacher with the same surname as the instructor. This resulted in the status of the instructor being regarded as terminated from payroll and retired on the system.
The Salary and Payroll Team made an undertaking to correct the system error and ensured that the lost salaries for five (5) pay periods were back paid in full during the restoration of the payroll system. Before the end of 2023, the instructor was reinstated and restored to the payroll system. The instructor was also back-paid a total of K6,344.44 in lost salaries.
Source: Ombudsman Commission, Papua New Guinea
