Government

Faulty Submissions From Bureau of Corrections Robs Officers of Annual and Sick Leave; Meeting to be Held to Fix Error

Senator Kurt Vialet, Chairman of the Committee on Finance will host a hearing with the Bureau of Corrections to correct an issue with the way B.O.C. has been submitting work hours of corrections officers that has robbed those officers of their correct annual and sick leave. B.O.C. sought to cast blame on the Dept. of Finance during the Friday Finance Committee hearing, but Senator Kenneth Gittens contended — and Mr. Vialet later confirmed — that the problem lies with B.O.C. and not the Dept. of Finance. The matter was brought to the fore based on a question from Sen. Milton Potter, who inquired why the corrections officers were subject to such treatment when "the V.I. Code outlines clearly how much sick leave and annual leave each government employee can have.”  Riel Faulkner, assistant director for Administration and Compliance at B.O.C., stated, “The issue is the interpretation of that section of the V.I. Code that says full bi-weekly pay period.” He sought to explain a rather con...