The Department of Public Service and Administration has released a circular on the termination of payment of non-pensionable cash allowance for Senior Management Service members, Special Advisers and members of the Public Service Commission.
DPSA Acting Director-General, Ms Linda Dludla, said during the implementation of the DPSA circular no. 13 of 2022, the allowance code 0708 was created on PERSAL without end date against the provision of paragraph 6 of the circular.
As a result, she said, Senior Management Service (SMS) members were overpaid in terms of the payment of the non-pensionable cash allowance for the month of April 2022.
“Section 30 (1) of the Public Service Act stipulates that “if an incorrect salary, salary level, salary scale or rewards is awarded to an employee, the relevant executive authority shall correct it with effect from the date on which it commenced.
“Departments must inform SMS members in writing that errors will be rectified in terms of the overpayment of non-pensionable cash allowance and that amounts that may have been overpaid will be recovered. This must be in compliance with section 33 (1) (e) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997,” she said.
She further advised departments to invoke provisions of Basic Conditions of Employment Act in particular section 34 in recovering the overpayments, that each department must receive each member of SMS written consent agreeing to the deduction in respect of the overpayment.
Period to recover the overpayment
According to Ms Dludla, the period to recover the overpayment must not exceed a period of three months from the date of the circular. This recovering of overpayment also applies to the Special Advisers since their remuneration structure including payment of non-pensionable allowance is linked to the inclusive remuneration of the members of the SMS in the public service space. It also applies to Commissioners of the Public Service Commission (PSC).
She reiterated that departments must inform SMS, Special Advisers and Commissioners in writing that errors will be rectified, and that any amounts that may have been overpaid or underpaid will be adjusted. “However, should any problems arise with the implementation of this circular, departments must approach the DPSA for assistance. Where departments are not able to assist employees, departments may approach the DPSA through their respective Director-General’s for assistance,” Ms Dludla said.
