A full day’s pay for two hours’ work: NAO flags Gozo Ministry overtime issues
Audit flags problems with 'habitual' overtime claims by ministry workers
An audit of the Gozo ministry has found shortcomings in the way “habitual” claims for overtime are administered and approved.
In one case, the auditor general, a public-spending watchdog, found a worker performed two hours of overtime on Sunday and public holidays and was paid the minimum for a day’s work on each occasion.
The audit found the same justification was given for the overtime on each occasion, for work at the civil abattoir as a carcass loader.
In contrast, another employee who worked “a few hours” on Sundays and public holidays was paid by the hour, instead of receiving a whole day’s pay.
The ministry justified this by saying the second employee received an on-call allowance, therefore, would only get a full day’s pay if he was on-call for more than eight hours.
Auditors pointed out that, as per government regulations, it should be the employee receiving the on-call allowance who is called in for urgent work, so as to avoid additional overtime payments.
The auditor general said “vague justifications” for overtime work were also encountered during the audit.
These justifications included “pressure of work”, “duty on weekends and public holidays” and “extra supervision duties”.
‘Vague justifications’ for overtime work
The auditor general said none of these justifications were attributable to a particular task, as required by internal regulations.
Despite a 2021 audit having already flagged the habitual use of overtime at the ministry, the latest audit found overtime work was still being carried out for prolonged periods.
From a sample of eight workers, the overtime reviewed revealed that six had performed overtime for more than six consecutive months, with one case extending up to 12 months.
In one case, the audit found approval was granted for an officer to work a total of 347 hours overtime between January and June 2024 and a further 177 hours from October to December.
This amounts to over 65 days’ worth of extra work, based on an eight-hour day.
The auditor general concluded that while efforts were made to mitigate certain weaknesses identified in the 2021 audit, more needs to be done, with particular attention on the “habitual overtime work” performed and the justification for it.