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Capitol Hill, Monrovia – The House of Representatives has assured aggrieved Legislative staffers that it will work with the Senate to address the salary disparity conundrum between staffers of both Houses and ensure they receive their benefits.
The House made the promise during its 49th day siting on Thursday based on recommendations from its Committee on Ways, Means and Finance and co-opt resource members.
The Committee was mandated on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 to probe into the staffers’ allegations that their salaries and benefits including fuel were being cut illegally by the Legislature as the Standardization Act of 2019 exempted them from the salary cut.
The staffers of the House of Representatives also complained that their colleagues at the Senate were earning more as compared to them, something that said violated the Standardization Act.
On Tuesday, a meeting between the Committee on Ways, Means and Finance and the workers ended in deadlock as the workers and the Committee’s Chairman, Rep. Jeremiah Koung (District#1, Nimba County) failed to find a common ground.
With mounting pressure from the workers, who threatened to disrupt Tuesday’s session if their complaints were not addressed, Plenary, following a sustained discussion of the situation, mandated the committee to probe the workers’ claim and report on Thursday, September 3, 2020.
In its findings, the committee reported that the budget laws of 2019/2020 acknowledged salary harmonization and benefits cut across all branches of Government at different levels.
Specifically, the law called for a six percent cut across all branches, except for non-clerical health workers, teachers, security personnel and individuals earning below US$500 per month after benefit harmonization.
The Committee noted that the Standardization Act of 2019 called for standardization and harmonization of remuneration across the three branches of government, as a way of addressing the vertical and horizontal disparities within the public service.
It also clarified that the report of the joint committee on Ways, Means and Finance and Public Accounts did not speak to the six percent cut on staffers of the Legislature in its initial reporting, but such report was amended to include all branches of Government to obtain the US$297 million wage bill before the budget was passed, so as not to present a partial reflection of the Legislature to the public.
“All Chief of Staff (COS), Research Officers, Special Assistants and Administrative Assistants including staffers of Central Administration who salary above US$500 did have Six percent cut,” the committee said.
Staffers of the House, the committee added, were not affected. However, they are experiencing reduction in ‘take home pay’ as a result of the fluctuation in the exchange rate, upward tax band adjustment due to collapsing of all benefits including the allowance and the basic civil service salary warded in Liberian Dollars.
On account of fuel benefits, the committee stated that not all staffers are entitled to fuel. It revealed that during recast budget Fiscal Year 2019/2020, it was agreed and voted by plenary that due to the constrain of the Government in raising the needed revenue and as a way of contributing to the funding of the COVID-19 fight, all outstanding benefits of the Legislature to include fuel, scholarship, and legislative projects were waived to enhance the Government resource mobilization for the COVID-19 fight.
This was intended to address revenue decline against projected expenditure, as opposed to 50% waiver of salaries proposed by some members of the Legislature, it added.
Committee’s Recommendations
The committee recommended that each member of the House should meet with their staffers to establish actual ‘take home pay’ per month as a way of validating the reports of the comptroller section; and that the payroll of the Legislature be vetted, harmonized and standardized across the two Houses including Central Administration.
The Committee further recommended that upon the passage of the budget, each employee of the Legislature be issued a pay slip, indicating gross monthly salary, tax, and other deduction and addition, as well as benefits.
The recommendations were endorsed by plenary and the staffers, through their spokesperson Benjamin Myers thanked the lawmakers for the commitment.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Bhofal Chambers cautioned the staffers to desist from violent and denigrating means in addressing their grievances.