Provincial Government Introduces Amendments to Compensation Disclosure Legislation

  • Executive Council

November 19, 2018

Today, the Provincial Government introduced amendments to the Public Sector Compensation Transparency Act that will ensure House of Assembly Service staff, political support staff, statutory officers and employees of statutory offices with total compensation of over $100,000 per year will now be included in the annual compensation disclosure listing.

While proactive disclosure was occurring in many cases, there remained some uncertainty as to the applicability of the Act to employees of the House of Assembly and its statutory bodies.

These changes will take effect for the 2018 report which is to be released no later than June 30, 2019.

The compensation disclosure listing includes the names of employees, their official job titles and the names of the departments or public bodies in which they are employed. Total compensation, which includes a breakdown of base salary, overtime, shift premiums, retroactive pay, bonuses and other compensation, as well as severance where applicable, are also outlined.

Many of those now included in the compensation disclosure listing had previously released their information voluntarily. The amendment will result in the Act encompassing employee information previously listed elsewhere now being included under one listing.

The Public Sector Compensation Transparency Act provides that an employee may be exempted from disclosure if the release of their information could reasonably be expected to result in a threat to the safety, or mental or physical health of the employee. There are no other grounds for granting individual employees an exemption to disclosure.

Quote
“Our government respects the right of citizens to access information on how public funds are used and are committed to practicing strong fiscal management on behalf of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. We are expanding the list of employees who are included in the compensation disclosure report in the spirit of openness and transparency.”
Honourable Tom Osborne
Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board
Minister Responsible for Human Resources Secretariat

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Learn more
Compensation Disclosure List

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Media contact
Chrysta Collins
Human Resource Secretariat
709-729-4839, 730-1568
chrystacollins@gov.nl.ca

2018 11 19 5:00 pm