The Alberta government is taking steps to ensure public service overtime pay is approved by cabinet after Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw received a $227,911 COVID-19 bonus without oversight from elected officials.
Hinshaw received the “cash benefits” in addition to her $363,634 salary in 2021, government records show. It marks the largest cash benefit payout of any provincial civil servant since the Alberta government began posting records in 2016, according to CBC.
Alberta Finance Minister Jason Nixon said the public service should not have the ability to “unilaterally approve significant overtime payments of this size.”
“The Public Service Commission has been instructed to undergo a full review of the policy to ensure that future overtime payments for emergencies go through Cabinet for approval,” Nixon said in a statement to The Epoch Times. “Until the review has been completed and a new policy has been confirmed, all future requests will be brought forward for (the) Treasury Board to review.”…