Justice dept to re-evaluate 5 employees

2011-11-28 17:30

Johannesburg - The justice department has been instructed to re-evaluate the performance of five employees, the Public Service Association (PSA) said on Monday.

It said this would be done in terms of an order issued by the Johannesburg Labour Court.

"The action of the department resulted in the five members not qualifying for pay progression or incentive bonuses," PSA Gauteng manager Monica Venter said.

The ruling last week came after the department failed to follow through on a settlement agreement that arose through arbitration.

"The PSA... had declared a dispute with the department after it refused to re-evaluate the members who could prove their excellent service delivery for the performance evaluation year 2007/2008," said Venter.

She said the members were mostly typists for judges.

They were working under extreme pressure to type and complete judgments in time for the judges to make their orders in court.

"The members have been working for several years in the section that has a serious shortage of staff," Venter said.

"It often happens that government departments misuse a particular group of employees who are doing more than what is expected of them, but when it comes to awarding merit awards, they fail to compensate them for the excellent services."

The department could not immediately be reached for comment.

- SAPA