The Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center recently advised the cash-strapped Veterans and Veterans’ Dependents Foundation to reduce the benefits it grants to its staff, which are better than what civil servants are entitled to.
The center recently said that the foundation not only allots 1.5 months of pay to its workers for year-end bonuses, in line with the standard for civil servant benefits, it also grants special bonuses during three major holidays — Lunar New Year, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival — and NT$35,000 as a performance bonus for each senior employee evaluated as having performed well.
The center said those benefits surpassed those enjoyed by public servants and should be eliminated.
During deliberation over the central government’s general budget for 2013, the Legislative Yuan passed a resolution stating that foundations established with government aid are under the aegis of government policies, they are public interest groups and should act as such, the center said.
The resolution stipulated that such entities adhere to the standards for civil servants when allocating bonuses.
The center’s report said the Veterans and Veterans’ Dependents Foundation this year allocated NT$650,100 for eight senior employees’ bonuses — including their 1.5 month year-end bonuses, which totaled NT$386,000; bonuses totaling NT$200,000 for senior workers with good performance evaluations; and NT$65,000 for the three holidays’ special bonuses.
According to data provided with the report, the foundation has been doling out special bonuses, excluding year-end bonuses, from 2011 to this year.
Senior workers with good performance evaluations received up to NT$39,000 per person in 2011, which was adjusted to NT$35,000 the next year.
The Lunar New Year bonuses ranged from NT$3,000 to NT$6,000 per person, with bonuses for the other two festivals ranging between NT$2,000 and NT$5,000.
The center’s report also revealed that the foundation had been operating with a budget deficit from 2011 to last year, and it called on the Veterans Affairs Council to urge the foundation to draw up cost-cutting measures to make it self-sufficient and balance the books.
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