1,200 public servants to be compensated

An estimated 1,200 public servants, who were injured during working hours can breathe a sigh of relief as all outstanding compensation cases or claims backdated to 2001 are expected to be settled come end of next month.

In February this year, Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama made a directive to clear the backlog of compensation cases, the Workers Compensation Taskforce from the Ministry of Labour has settled 823 cases out of the total 2201 cases that were pending, which was done within the span of five weeks.

Government anticipates that the remaining compensation cases will be settled by the end of May.

At present Government has settled compensation cases which include 371 in Suva alone, Sigatoka has 39, Nadi 107 cases, Lautoka 115, Ba 75, Savusavu 17 and Labasa 99 cases where civil servants have been compensated for injuries sustained during working hours.

Minister for Labour Filipe Bole when contacted said the amount of money to be paid out and where the funds will be sourced from will be revealed tomorrow.