A man was reimbursed for damage caused to his car by road maintenance works after his case was flagged by the ombudsman, whose investigations have also seen sick leave policy being amended for cancer patients.
These are two of the dozens of ‘injustices’ investigated by the Office of the Ombudsman which have been resolved over the past months, with the public service sector taking on board its recommendations.
In the first case, a man was reimbursed “in good faith” for the damage sustained to his vehicle because of work on a road that falls within the Malta Industrial Parks’ remit.
MIP initially said it could not shoulder responsibility, however, it later admitted that the pothole that had caused the damage had not been repaired.
In a separate case investigated by the health commissioner within the Ombudsman’s Office, a man said he had not been paid for 36 days of sick leave after using up his leave entitlement.
The man claimed he needed the sick leave as he was undergoing cancer treatment that entailed a three-day stay in hospital with every chemotherapy cycle.
The commissioner suggested special consideration for such cases and, although the Social Security Department insisted that, whatever the medical condition, the wording of the law needed to be adhered to, by October 2019 the policy was changed to cater for patients undergoing such treatment.
These cases are listed with several others in a document launched by
Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar, who complained that four-fifths of pending cases flagged by the ombudsman were stuck at his own office.
According to data provided by Cutajar, the Ombudsman’s Office has yet to confirm whether the action taken by the public service over 119 complaints is adequate.
These make up 80 per cent of the current 148 pending cases.
The remaining 39 cases are still being tackled by the various ministries. Cutajar insisted that criticism about backlog of cases was unjust, as figures showed the accountability, efficiency and determination of the public service.
Referring to cases flagged in 2019, Cutajar said that 253 out of 381 complaints have been closed. A total of 40 out of these 253 were resolved after the ombudsman’s recommendations were implemented.
Some cases have been suspended due to court proceedings, such as in the case of a couple who lost their baby at nine months’ pregnancy and are claiming that certain protocols within Mater Dei Hospital need to be reviewed.
Meanwhile, a complaint about excessive noise from a football ground in Birżebbuġa has seen the local council proposing the planting of trees around the
ground to reduce noise.
The suggestion was deemed insufficient by the ombudsman, whose recommendation of installing signs warning ground users that they should keep
noise to a minimum in the residential area was implemented.
Another complaint was filed by a student alleging that he was unfairly penalised for leaving a group presentation session because of a medical condition.
The University of Malta upheld the education commissioner’s suggestion that the student should be allowed a minimum pass as deducting all marks was unjust.