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ASG employees furious after personal info goes wrong

American Samoa Government employees are furious with the exposure of their personal information — such as their social security numbers — by the Human Resources Department when they sent out a notice regarding liquidation of accumulated annual, sick and compensatory leave balances to the wrong government department.

 

The email that was sent by HR went to the Department of Commerce, and had personal information about DOE employees, Governor’s Office employees (including the Governor and Lt. Governor) and the Legislative branch employees — including lawmakers and senators. The HR director Sonny L. Thompson says it was an error.

 

Thompson admitted that the error is on their part, saying that an email was sent out “accidentally” to the Department of Commerce “however the hard copies from that email have already been retrieved from the DOC people.”

 

Many calls were made to Samoa News, and one of the callers said “this opens up ASG to lawsuits, given that there are numerous cases of identity theft, and if the wrong people get this information, we are doomed.”

 

Responding to Samoa News queries the director stated that the attachments which have the personal information such as title and social security numbers are for the respective administrative clerks and directors to double check for accuracy.

 

“These people are authorized to view this personal information as it’s their job duties in their respective departments to double check if the information is accurate — along with the social security numbers and the leave that their employees need to take.”

 

Thompson said they compiled the data and sent it over to the departments and their directors, who were to review the information and confirm with HR that the information they received is accurate.

 

The HR Director reiterated that people who are looking at the information are those authorized to view that information as part of their job duties and responsibilities.

 

He explained that last week Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga has tasked HR to reconcile the accrued compensation liability numbers and that’s what they sent out to the Department Directors and their administrative clerks.

 

Thompson reminded the government employees that the time period for corrective leave is between January 1, 2015 to March 30, 2015. He said after March, HR will be forced to terminate that leave, as it will not be carried forward.

 

The HR director also stated that managing the annual, sick and compensatory time is relatively important as it’s costing the government a lot of money.

 

Last week at the Cabinet meeting Governor Lolo stated that in 2013 the accrued time decreased from $14.7million to $13.6million. However in 2014, he said it increased again by between $300,000 and $400,000.