PHILIPSBURG:--- The General Audit Chamber schooled the Minister of Finance in the letter dated June 26th.
According to the letter, the Audit Chamber states that they would agree and adopt the austerity measures as long as an agreement is reached with the Chamber of Labor Unions
The Chamber states that based on the letter sent by the Minister of Finance to the Chamber the Minister outlined that the intention of government is to pay only 50% of the vacation allowance. The Chamber states that prior to the June 22nd letter the Chamber was not informed of the government’s decision to pay out only 50%. The Chamber further explained that based on Article 24 of the Holiday Exemption Services for Civil Servants Regulations the holiday remittance is paid, once per calendar year, in the second half of June, over the 12-month period, commencing on the month of June, the foregoing calendar year.
In the opinion of the Chamber, this is a so-called mandatory provision; deviation from that provision is not possible. In addition to an official message, the Chamber has never received a National Ordinance amending Article 24 of the Regulation on vacation and exemption from civil servants (and they were not informed of the existence of such), which provides payment of a 50% holiday allowance a lawful legal basis. The Chamber understands that this is one of the conditions set by the Kingdom to obtain liquidity support. Nevertheless, as an institution, the chamber stands for legality and integrity, and not paying the full vacation allowance before June 30th is illegal.
For the sake of completeness, the Chamber noted that the 19 May the parliament passed a motion that acceptance of the terms and conditions will only take place if they are not in conflict with the country and the Kingdom. The Chamber, therefore, believe that the Minister’s decision is contrary to Article 24 of the Regulations for the Vacation and Exemption of Officials and not in line with the aforementioned motion by Parliament. After all, the law requires full payment to be made by June 30. This is a legal obligation. A possible future amendment national ordinance after June 30 does not mean that it is now possible to deviate from the law.
In view of the above, the Chamber advised the Minister to act in accordance with the applicable legislation.
