Yes retirement package being considered

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The administration may be looking at an incentive package to get long serving employees to retire,

KHJ News sought an explanation from the governor’s executive assistant Iulogologo Joseph Pereira regarding the governor’s memo to departments and agencies to list employees with service of 30 or more years.

The governor set June 30 for departments to submit a complete list of employees with 30 years of service or above and said that this information which must be verified with the Department of Human resources.

Iulogologo said in response to our questions the information being sought will generate financial information to determine the total ASG payroll spent on employees with 30 or more years of service.

The administration also wants to assess employee contributions of this sector of the workforce to the American Samoa Government Employees Retirement Fund.

According to Iulogologo this information will help with the development of policies aimed at  reducing cost and to incentivize retirement for those who are of retirement age.

He said the information will be tallied and analyzed for the governor’s review and decision as to what policies are needed.

The last time a bill offering incentives for retirement was submitted to the Fono was during the Togiola Faoa administration however the bill never made it out of committee

Meanwhile there’s a growing number of retired employees who were re-hired by the current administration on contracts, including several members of the cabinet.