Laid Off Staff Under the Spotlight
Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) employees who lost their jobs due to a digital upgrade on tax services may be re-employed if their termination is deemed ‘unjust’. Minister for Finance, Biman Prasad, is expecting FRCS chief executive officer, Mark Dixon, and FRCS board members to look into the matter. It began yesterday following his welcoming ceremony.
In December 2021, FRCS terminated 102 employees as part of a redundancy move after it had implemented taxpayer online services and digitising tax utilities, which saw these staff redundant. Eighty-nine of them filed for a class-action lawsuit in the same year.
“The matter is in the court,” Mr Prasad said.
“Some people, in our view, were unjustly removed without proper consultation and discussions. I’m sure the new board, chairman and CEO understand that.
“I’m confident that it will be sorted out soon and the organisation will move ahead with a lot of certainty and confidence.” Mr Dixon said if there was a need to be specific, they would open up the job to everyone. And whoever has the right qualification would get the job.
“There’s room for a bit of growth because the economy is growing,” he said.
“Education, awareness, a new digital system coming into play. We have to make sure that we provide business and taxpayers that smooth transition.
“We look into where those gaps are and we will into filling them this year.”
Mr Dixon said his job was to make the organisation grow and continue its great service. “I would consider everyone in the marketplace,” he said. “There’s no reason why we can’t bring some of those right people back if they have the right skills to drive FRCS forward,” he said. “If we need to target specific skill sets, then we have the freedom to do that,” he said.
The lawyer for the workers, Damodaran Nair said: “We welcome the statement by the Minister but the workers are yet to see the same materialise.”