THE state is unable to properly check overtime claims by civil servants and consequently overtime payments have been mounting year by year.
In 2008, total government overtime expenditures reached €62.3 million, an eight per cent increase on the previous year.
According to Treasury figures, the worst offender in 2008 was the medical sector (state doctors and nurses). Substantial increases were also recorded for the Department of Correctional Facilities.
From an admission by Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis, it can be gleaned that the mechanism for checking overtime claims is ineffectual, meaning that such payments may well be an unnecessary drain on the cash-strapped treasury.
Responding to a question posed by DISY deputy Tasos Mitsopoulos, Stavrakis conceded that the continuous growth of overtime payments was a cause for concern as it represented a “diachronic problem” and a “significant burden on state finances.”
The yearly increase in overtime payments is despite a freeze ordered by the Cabinet under the previous government in April 2007. According to that decision, payments for the period 2008-2010 should be restricted to the 2007 figure of €57.5 million.
According to Politis, inadequate checks are the reason why these expenditures are out of control. Ministry personnel in charge of accepting overtime claims from civil servants tend to pass the claims on to the relevant committee at the concerned ministry. But because the committee is unaware of the details or circumstances at the workplace, the claims are processed summarily and, more often than not, approved.
To contain the waste of funds, the Ministry of Finance is expected to increase the frequency of random checks by auditors at government ministries and agencies. The auditors will check whether the person claiming overtime was present at the workplace at the time concerned.
In addition to fraudulent claims, the ministry is also worried that increasing overtime payments are a result of poor management and allocation of resources at the ministries, since assigned projects are not completed on time and civil servants have to put in extra hours.
It’s also plausible that ministry officials are reluctant to crack down on forged claims as doing so would limit their ‘overtime budget’ and might set a precedent for the following year.
Meanwhile DISY deputy Christos Stylianides yesterday sought clarifications as to why a government-commissioned study on overtime in the broader public sector had been filed away and forgotten. The study was conducted by a well-known private auditing company, he said.
