PUB repays 6 months' overtime pay with interest owed to some staff due to 'technical difficulties' with HR system

SINGAPORE — Due to a technical issue in a human resource (HR) system, a group of workers from national water agency PUB have been owed overtime pay for as long as six months, TODAY has learnt. The workers were owed overtime pay from August last year to January this year. 

In response to queries, PUB said that it has since rectified the error and has paid workers the overtime pay owed in the six months and for February and March this year in April’s payroll.

The workers will also get, by the end of this month, the interest that could have been earned had salary contributions been made into their Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts. 

Although PUB and its employee's union (PUBEU) declined to say how many workers were affected and the amount of overtime pay owed, TODAY understands that only a small group of workers was affected and the amount owed was not large.

In response to queries from TODAY, a PUB spokesperson said: "The issue arose due to technical difficulties, which led to a delay in the implementation of a new shift work module in our human resources system. As such, the officers were unable to submit their overtime claims in the system for processing.