Five years of taxpayer funded leave without pay

Stuff reports:

A former Lotto presenter who delivered six bars of gold bullion to the Comancheros’ “International Commander” in Turkey was suspended on full pay from his government job after he was arrested as part of a global FBI sting targeting organised crime.

Russell Harrison, 56, continued to receive his taxpayer funded Ministry of Justice salary for five years, tallying hundreds of thousands of dollars, until he pleaded guilty to a charge of money laundering a fortnight ago and his employment was terminated.

Unbelievable. The contempt for taxpayer money. No private sector employer would keep paying someone a salary for five years while they were up on serious criminal charges.

“From that point on, Mr Harrison was not permitted to work in his role. But because he was in [the eyes of the] law innocent until proven guilty, a decision about whether to terminate his employment needed to wait until the outcome of the charge was clear.

Nonsense. The Ministry of Justice seems to know nothing about employment law. It’s insane to think someone can work for you for a week and then they get arrested and you pay them five years pay on leave.

Harrison actually got paid more by the Ministry of Justice than the value of the gold he was laundering!

If an employee is charged with a crime, you do not have to wait for trial. You start an employment investigation.