“It’s time to turn the wheel — as it is ridiculous” how the salaries for the Director of Human Resources, Komiti Emmsley and HR Assistant Director, Dr. Akense Nikolao Mutini “have had several raises since their conversion from contract employees to career service employees,” said LBJ Hospital Chief Executive Officer Taufete’e John Faumuina, in an interview with Samoa News yesterday.

Samoa News was told last week that the hospital’s Policy Advisor, Tauave Galuvao, conducted a review of the LBJ HR Department per request of the hospital CEO. Samoa News reached out to Galuvao last week, who confirmed that he had conducted the review, however he declined to comment on the review report and referred everything to the CEO.

In yesterday’s interview, Taufete’e told Samoa News that he had tasked the hospital’s Policy Advisor to conduct a review of the HR, because there are many discrepancies within this department, which include the hiring of unqualified people, raising salaries incorrectly, along with the conversion of contract employees to career service employees, outside of established procedures.

Samoa News was not shown the review report, but according to a hospital official, the report recommends to the current hospital CEO to rescind the decision by former hospital CEO Fleming to convert the employment status of Emmsley and Mutini from contract to career service employees.

Another issue Taufete’e pointed out yesterday is “recruitment done without going through due process” which has caused a “huge morale issue for the hospital employees.”

HUMAN RESOURCES DEPT ISSUES

The LBJ CEO confirmed with Samoa News that Mrs. Emmsley, who was making $60,000 per year, now makes $72,000, while Dr. Mutini now makes $62,000.

These salaries he says were not done correctly, and “a mistake I will be fixing soon, very soon, because it’s not fair and it was not right how these salaries were procured from the beginning.”

In February 2014 Samoa News reported that former hospital CEO Joseph Davis Fleming had converted the employment status of the LBJ Human Resources Director and HR Assistant Director from contract employees to career service employees.

Taufete’e told Samoa News yesterday that these are some of the issues that he was directed to look into by the Administration when he came on board.

“We have an attorney that is looking into that because it is disappointing, as to why did they not advertise the positions. They were hired on contract and then converted… to career… it’s a dirty way of increasing salaries.”

 Samoa News asked if he will rescind the decision by his predecessor and Taufete’e said, he’s weighing all options because it was done incorrectly from the beginning and he will see to it that it does not happen again.

Taufete’e said there was never a Deputy Director or HR Assistant Director in the hospital, and for some reason this position was created, although it was not necessary, given that there are only 730 employees at the hospital.

The CEO noted that the hospital HR Director makes more than ASG’s HR Director, yet she’s in charge of only 700+ employees, while Sonny Thompson oversees over 6,000 employees. “Do the math. It does not match up and it’s just not right,” he said. The CEO then stated that he would be looking at formulating the hospital’s pay scale to match the government’s pay scale, so there is no crossover.

Taufete’e also told Samoa News that he was disturbed when he was informed that one of the HR Managers has been working from home, because he was sick. He said that this is unacceptable employment behavior, and “if you are sick then you take medical leave and if you can’t handle the job then resign. But working from home, doing HR work is not right and this practice has to stop.”

Samoa News asked about the status of this HR Manager and Taufete’e said “I came in this morning, and he’s back to work.”

The LBJ CEO also confirmed with Samoa News that when he came on board he found out the hospital’s payroll had been transferred from the Finance Department to the HR.

He said, “I reversed that decision. They should focus on recruiting, not payroll, and now that the payroll is back to Finance, HR has a lot of employees who are not doing anything. Some of them were working for the executive branch who crossed over and “we are looking at transferring them; otherwise they will be laid off.”

 The CEO told Samoa News that prior to his departure for two weeks to Washington DC for meetings, he had issued a memo to freeze all hiring, employee reclassification and salary adjustments.

In that memo, Taufete’e stated, “Over the past two years we have noticed an unusually high increase in new hires, reclassifications and salary adjustments. These actions have placed a heavy strain on our financial resources, and as a result we have no recourse but to immediately implement the following: freezing of all hiring with the exception of critical needed positions, justification for critical need hiring is to be forwarded to my office for review and final course of action; and, freeze of reclassifications and salary adjustments.”

Taufete’e added that he will be reviewing ALL employment contracts for final course of action, and he told Samoa News that it was because of the amount of discrepancies with HR that he’s now reviewing all contracts and recruiting, to see that they’ve been done correctly through the process.

“There are a lot of unqualified people who were hired and it was mostly on a want basis not a need basis — and this is unhealthy for the hospital’s operation,” said the CEO.

Asked for comment on the CEO’s concerns, Hospital Board Chairman Mase Akapo told Samoa News that the CEO has the full support of the Board to conduct all manner of audits, surveys, and research, and all management tools are available to him to access the hospital’s operations and to render assistance or provide corrective action where needed.