The Gozo Ministry paid its employees around €1 million in overtime that was only vaguely justified and in allowances that could not be verified, a National Audit Office report found.

In a recently published public accounts report, the Auditor General found that in 2021, the Ministry's Strategy and Support Division "almost fully utilised" its €174,668 budget for overtime and its €956,120 budget for allowances.

But employees' attendance sheets revealed that overtime was carried out "habitually, very often with vague justifications given for its requirement", and allowances could not even be verified because the ministry did not provide the Audit Office with the required documentation, "notwithstanding reminders sent".

"Instances were noted whereby employees were paid for overtime when, according to the attendance sheets, no additional work was carried out. On other occasions, officers did not claim all the extra hours showing as having been worked according to attendance records. Discrepancies were also noted between the number of hours worked as per attendance sheets and the overtime hours claimed for payment," the report said.

"At times, attendance sheets indicated that during weekends and public holidays, overtime was equivalent to a full day’s work, when actual overtime hours worked and claimed, as confirmed [the ministry], were less."

Attendance sheet failings

From the sample of nine officers selected for the audit, two did not have attendance sheets signed by their superiors, and one had signed some of his own attendance sheets.

Other attendance sheets were certified by their superiors despite containing illegible writing.

"As a result, the National Audit Office has reservations on the reliability of attendance sheets and cannot comfortably conclude whether the sampled officers were accurately paid for the overtime they claimed," the report concluded.

The Gozo Ministry employs almost 800 staffers at the Strategy and Support Division, which incorporates 35 departments and sections, including the Maintenance and Restoration Directorate, Construction and Maintenance Unit, Public Cleansing Section, Roads Section and the Villa Rundle public garden.

The report found the division absorbed more than half of the ministry's total overtime and allowance budgets in 2021.

Habitual overtime

The report also noted that overtime was carried out habitually.

"The reasons given for the need for this additional work were generic, raising doubts on whether all overtime was justifiable and suggesting that extra work at [the ministry] was possibly being considered as an extension to the respective officer’s basic salary," it said.

All requests for overtime were undated and poorly justified, and one of the sampled officers had worked overtime for 11 consecutive months, the report said.

The report recommended, among other things, that the ministry provides all documentation required for audits in a timely manner, that payment for overtime is justified and duly recorded, that attendance sheets are seen to be clear, legible and accurate and that action is taken against officers who attempt to abuse the system.

Ministry: All overtime approved

In a reply to the Auditor General, the Gozo Ministry management defended the system and its officers, and among other things said that all overtime was approved and the discrepancies between the pay and the attendance sheet happened because the officers mistakenly did not sign the attendance sheet. It also said that officers who exceeded the approved overtime were not paid.

It also defended the illegible handwriting on the attendance sheets, saying the officers' superior could still sign them because he took note of their physical attendance at work and found it easier to read their handwriting because he was more familiar with it.