The fourth pay commission does not recommend the regularisation of contract employees as they are recruited for time-bound projects and meeting short-term human resource requirements.
This, according to the fourth pay commission report is also in keeping with the recommendation to maintain civil service growth at replacement level or population growth which is about 1.3 percent.
As per the Bhutan Civil Service Rules and Regulations (BCSR), government agencies are allowed to recruit employees on contract against the approved staff strength, upon approval of RCSC.
Today, there are four categories of contractual appointments based on need, expertise, required duration of project or work, availability of human resources in the market and time-bound projects or works.
The report states that contract appointments have been increasing rapidly in recent years. Contractual appointments have increased from 1,093 in 2015 to 3,087 last year. This, according to the report was mainly to cater to the increasing human resources in the education sector and project staffing needs.
There are 2,034 consolidated contract employees mostly in support and supervisory position. Of the total, 35 percent are in education service. Teachers alone comprise 10 percent of the consolidated contract staff and the rest includes child caregivers, instructors, wardens, matrons, and peer counsellors.
Consolidated contract employees are paid a lump sum amount as salary, house rent, and repatriation benefits pegged to civil servant position levels and are not eligible for annual increment, contract allowance, Provident Fund (PF) and Pension.
Consolidated contract staff constitute 67 percent of total contract employees and regular contract employees make up 32 percent of the total contract employees as of December end 2018.
There are 986 regular contract employees mostly in Professional and Management positions. More than 75 percent of employees are in education services with a majority in the teaching profession (66 percent).
Regular contract employees are eligible for pay, house rent, and repatriation benefits pegged to civil servant position levels, and an additional 30 percent contract allowance but not PF and pension benefits.
Special contractual appointment is to meet the critical need and urgency requiring highly specialised knowledge and skills with a given level of experience, which is scarce in the market.
They are paid a lump sum salary, house rent, and repatriation benefits pegged to civil servants position levels. But they are not eligible for annual increment, contract allowance, PF and pension.
Today, there are about 37 employees in this category and the cabinet determines their remuneration.
While regular contract employees recruited at the existing pay scale mapped to civil servants position levels of S1 and below, and not by position titles are eligible to be regularised, the employees recruited under consolidated and special contract mapped to S1 and below positions in the civil service are eligible for regularisation subject to approved strength.
According to the report, there is a minimum benefit of Nu 3.2 million annually in regularising the regular contract employees while cost implication is higher if employees recruited under consolidated and special contract are regularised.
However, contract employees recruited at P5 and above position levels are not eligible for regularisation as per Section 47 of the Civil Service Act 2010.
Dechen Tshomo