COLOMBO: A group of aggrieved employees of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment,SLBFE, stormed their General Manager’s Office in the morning on Thursday,Jan,12 to complain the undue delay of their annual bonus.
SLBF General Manager Priyantha Senanayake told Colombo Times that it was just a storm in a tea cup,” We are in touch with the treasury to speed up these payments and it’s a process which would consume a little time,”Senanayake said, pointing out that their request is reasonable and it’s a matter of time they would get their dues.
“The COPE has recommended not to pay bonuses. Accordingly, the bonuses for the bureau employees were not paid. However, the bureau has made a profit last year unlike other loss-making government enterprises,” an SLBFE official told a local website.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe had directed a probe on loss making enterprises Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and SriLankan Airlines after they paid bonuses to their employees.
“President Ranil Wickremesinghe issues orders to the Chairman of SriLankan Airlines and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation calling for a report on payment of bonuses at a time when both institutions were running at a loss,” President’s Media Division said in a statement on January 3rd.
The CPC had paid two-month’s salary bonus and SriLankan Airlines had given 100,000 rupees bonus to their employees, local reports said.
