Retro Net On Payslip: 4 Reasons

Retro Net On Payslip: 4 Reasons Government Workers Can Be Surcharged

Teaser: Government workers can be asked to refund monies for certain reasons, through retro net on payroll, which can be for the wrong reasons or the right reasons.

Get to know what an unearned salary is.

The government of Ghana, through the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CADG), has the ability to force public servants to refund any unearned salary that the worker has enjoyed. The unearned salary is basically salaries that the workers have received that the worker has not worked for. Retro Net is also just an accounting term that is used by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to offset any previous calculation of salaries. Though the Retro Net as captured by CADG on payrolls can be a credit to the worker, the retro net is usually associated with debit or deductions to the workers, since state institutions are quick to collect what they deem is theirs rather than give what is due to the public servants. A list of four possible reasons or causes of the ‘Retro Net’ effect on workers’ salaries with respect to deductions or debts from the worker’s salaries. Some of the reasons for the retro net are clear genuine surcharges that must be deducted from the workers’ salary, but others are just as a result of inefficiency of the public service which might not be attributed to the worker who is surcharged.

1. Delayed salary transfers: the government of Ghana’s salary structure is such that workers at various stations can have an extra schedule which attracts a corresponding allowance that is paid to the worker. However, such a worker may not be assigned the same or similar extra schedule in a new station post to attract the corresponding allowance. When a worker is transferred to a new workplace without an extra schedule to attract a corresponding allowance, but his or her salary transfer to the new post delays, the worker will continue to receive his or her salary as though he or she was still at the old post. When the salary is finally worked on and transferred to the new work post, the worker would be considered to have received an extra amount he or she was not supposed to receive. All such extra amounts enjoyed would be captured as retro net though it was not the fault of the worker that the salary transfer was delayed. This situation can cover even twelve months of previous salaries, of which part must be refunded in the name of unearned salary.

The added cost to the individual in terms of transportation to district or regional or national offices to exert human pressure and facilitate the transfer of the worker’s salary to the new station from the old station, could even be multiple times more than the amount that was considered to have been received as unearned.

The remedy to this type of situation is to be deeply involved in the salary transfer processes from the early stages.

2. Study leaves: the Government of Ghana give opportunities to public sector workers annually to go for further studies with or without the beneficiaries enjoying their regular salaries. Taking up study leave opportunities comes with certain public sector salary structure complications. The first of the complications is that an individual will be reduced to their basic salary without any extra schedule necessitating corresponding allowances, which could present a retro net effect when the salary of the worker is not transferred from the former work post early. A more significant complication of a retro Net arising from study leave is when the individual accepts study leave without pay and yet the salary transfer or stoppage delays. In this case, the worker will be asked to refund any salary he or she might have received due to the delay in stopping the salary and/or a delay in the transfer of the salary.

3. Dubious promotion or upgrading: In a country where corruption is treated with a kid’s glove, citizens, including public sector workers, are not afraid to try maneuvering the Ghanaian bureaucratic system to their advantage. It is public knowledge that some public sector workers get promoted when they are not even due to attend promotion. Some workers can even get upgraded with a fake or non-existent certificate. The only functioning remedy the government have to solve these crimes or mulpractice is to surcharge the worker who was dubiously promoted or upgraded in the form of effecting a retro Net on the worker’s salary. The fact is that, engaging in a dubious method to upgrade or get promoted could hinder the individual from occupying even higher positions in the future.

4. Embezzlements: Also arising out of a near perfectly corrupt bureaucracy, embezzlements are a common practice in the country, as perfectly evident in the number of cases that appear before the country’s parliamentary committee responsible for investigating such cases. The committee, Public Interest Accountability Committee (PIAC), has unraveled so many cases out of the country’s Auditor General’s report, which contains a lot of infractions annually. The Auditor General’s Department itself is ineffective in retrieving embezled funds just like PIAC. The best alternative for the government of Ghana to set examples of fraudulent public officials is to ask the fraudulent officers to refund stolen or misapplied funds through retro Net issue on the worker’s salary.

See also: 3 Payroll Issues You Would Suffer After Taking Transfer

Though the government, through its agencies, is concerned with only retrieving stolen or embezled funds, the individual can actually go to jail when he or she is taken on.

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