Public servants’ annual leave: “Use it or lose it” – Minister Harmon

Public servants are being urged to take their leave when it is due or it will be forfeited. This was the message from Minister of State, Joseph Harmon as he explained to media operatives Wednesday morning at his office, that the Government was faced with many challenges in this regard.

“We are saying, as a general statement as from 2015 going forward, that when you are entitled to your leave, you have to take it in the year. If you don’t use it, you are going to lose it,” he said.

Minister Harmon explained that Government was facing significant challenges with regard to public servants and their leave, particularly as it relates to senior officers who have accumulated hundreds of days of leave.

It was pointed out that proper records were not being kept by various ministries and semi-autonomous bodies and that some public servants proceeded on leave and were also being paid salary in lieu for the same leave.

The Minister of State made reference to one Ministry where a Permanent Secretary was sent on leave. He was entitled to 195 days’ leave. When the files were checked, there were documents to show that the same person was paid three -four months’ pay in lieu of leave. This, Harmon said, has resulted from ineffective filing and record keeping.

“So we are having a lot of issues with public servants’ leave. The position that we take is that people must enjoy their leave in the year the leave becomes due. The only time you will find people who don’t want to go on leave at all is when they want to sit on something,” Harmon said, adding that, the Government wanted people to enjoy their leave.

Only this week, Finance Minister Winston Jordan was forced to send some 20 Customs officials on leave. He noted that some of the employees have leave amounting to 300, 280, and 240 days and he thought that they should proceed on leave and return. Nevertheless, he stated that before sending the officers on leave, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Commissioner General was consulted and the Finance Minister was assured that the decision to send the staff on leave would not affect the smooth running of the Authority.

“As the list was perused, I asked the Commissioner General if by sending a particular person on leave, will it affect the operations at the GRA … and once he would have indicated in the negative, we immediately informed the officer to proceed on leave,” Jordan added.

He noted his surprise that members of staff had that amount of leave, and as result, emphasised that it was time for them to recharge their batteries and come back refreshed.

The Minister stated that at no point in time, heads of department should encourage staff members to have accumulative leave owed to them. “Once the time has come for leave to be taken… it must be taken … we cannot have people working in an organisation for years without taking leave… there are others who can do the same job,” he noted.

Also recently, Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), Lionel Wordsworth was sent on 308 days ‘leave commencing on July 5. Wordsworth had headed the NDIA for a number of years.