Government overtime allowance shocker
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday September 26, 2014 14:56
Non-commuted employees are those whose nature of work does not always require them to work outside normal-working hours as happens with soldiers, wildlife wardens and the police.
A leaked Cabinet memo, however, indicates that as of April 1, 2015 civil servants on C3 grade and above, including permanent secretaries, shall receive five percent of their basic salary, while those on C4 and below shall receive 10 percent of their basic salary as overtime allowance. The details are found in Cabinet memo 153 reference SE/19/5 LIX (24). President Ian Khama has approved the introduction of the allowance. The Clerk of Cabinet, the Permanent Secretary to the President, Eric Molale signed the memo.
The introduction of the allowance will see officers who have been relying heavily on overtime claims receiving up to less than a quarter of what they used to claim. For example a C3 employee, earning P7,000 will get P350 overtime allowance, in contrast with say, P3,000 that they may have normally claimed.
The introduction of the allowance means a civil servant will now be expected to work as many hours the supervisor or the work demands – up to a maximum 14 hours a week without receiving further compensation.
According to the memo, a civil servant will have a choice to sign ‘An Undertaking Form’.
“…those who do not sign the Undertaking Form and are authorised to work overtime, should be paid overtime not exceeding 5% or 10 percent of the basic salary,” reads the memo.
President Ian Khama took the decision a day after a July 30 Cabinet meeting.
In early August, the Director of Public Service Management, Carter Morupisi said that civil servants were abusing overtime, and threatened government would take action against those in the habit. Already there is a government-wide investigation against those believed to have abused overtime, and some have been called for disciplinary hearings.
“In the year 2013/14 alone, non-commuted overtime payment amounted to a staggering sum of P516, 440. 363, which represents about 56% of the overall overtime bill in the public service,” he said then. Morupisi said the huge overtime bill was due to lack of supervision.
Under the new overtime allowance system, civil servants can work up to 56 hours per month (14 hours a week) without receiving any reward beyond the allowance. This is because, “As an interim measure the permanent secretary to the president should issue an administrative directive to all supervisors capping overtime payments as the law provides, at not more than 14 hours a week.”
BOFEPUSU secretary general Tobokani Rari said he was shocked that Cabinet had approved the overtime allowance without allowing the matter to go through the bargaining council.
“That is news to me, and Public Service Bargaining Council is not aware of the matter. We have not even met to discuss the issue you are raising, and there was never any consultation to that effect. This will be another way of trying to render the bargaining council irrelevant,” Rari said.
He said this was proof the government was not willing to discuss anything with the Union in good faith.
The federation’s deputy secretary general Ketlhalefile Motshegwa was equally irked by Cabinet’s unilateral decision.
“It is an insult for government to take the decision alone. Moreover the decision shows the slavery conditions under which the government wants Batswana to work. That decision means a B3 employee will get about P200 to work like a slave,” he said.
He further said overtime was an employee’s time and not the employer’s, and as such an employee who worked overtime had to be fully compensated for such overtime.
“Government fails to appreciate that there are conditions of service and regulations. Goromente o nyatsa Babereki le Bargaining Council (government takes workers and the Bargaining Council for granted),” he said.
He promised the Unions would not leave the issue lying down.
“We shall soon be approaching the courts not only about this issue, but also about the many other issues where the government has taken decisions willy-nilly,” he said.