In the latest development to Tubman University’s policy of paying double salaries to some employees, The Bush Chicken has found that the practice appears to be illegal under the 2014 Code of Conduct Act.

Tubman University’s May 2016 payroll, which was leaked by members of the faculty senate along with other documents, showed that several individuals were receiving dual salaries. Some senior staff members were being paid for their regular position in addition to a temporary position in which they were serving as interim appointees.

At least one of those individuals, Alex Cooper (the assistant vice president and the interim vice president for Research, Sponsor Programs, and Economic Development), occupied positions of overlapping functions but was still being paid for both separately.

In response to our report and those published in other newspapers, the university issued a press release justifying the practice by saying that its administration’s actions were “guided by our principles of operation, core values, policies, procedures, and, most importantly, the laws of the Republic of Liberia.”

The university, in its statement, also said it was compliant with Part T of the Public Finance Management Regulations, which deals with payments and remuneration to employees. While the university is correct that the regulations do not prohibit it from paying dual salaries to employees, it also does not explicitly allow the practice, which is incidentally prohibited by another law – the 2014 Code of Conduct Act.

That law states:

“Public officials and employees of government shall not, while receiving or being paid salaries by the government, at the same time receive or be paid salary by any other public office unless it is established that such additional employment is in the public interest [e.g. teaching at public educational institutions], and that such service does not conflict with the Public official or employee of government’s principal employment.”

Besides the law, the university’s handbook, which has policies that govern a wide range of activities, including hiring practices, faculty bylaws, and other university policies, does not explicitly permit paying employees dual salaries, except those acting in teaching roles while also serving as department chairs.

Instead of rectifying the dual salary issue once it was exposed by media institutions, the university fired two of its employees for “leakage of sensitive university information, including salary and allowance of staff, to various media outlets and the larger Tubman University community, through email communications.”

That retaliatory action against possible whistleblowers may be prohibited under Executive Order No. 22, which President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf issued in 2009 to “protect persons employed in both public and private institutions who disclose information about action against the public interest.”

In response to the latest discovery that the university’s practice of dual salary payment is illegal, officials have not yet provided a response.

Additionally, the university has yet to respond to requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act seeking information on how long specific employees served in multiple positions simultaneously, in addition to proofs that their acting positions were advertised externally.

Featured photo courtesy of Tubman University website