The extra leave appeared on workers’ accounts on Thursday after a test form from a health pilot was mistakenly loaded into the island’s payroll system as a new entitlement. By Friday morning, workers were sharing screenshots and asking managers whether they could book the days.
The public-service office says no law or ministerial order created the benefit, and that the balances will be corrected. But the payroll audit log shows the 12-day code reached 6,740 employee records before staff stopped the import, leaving officials to confront a dispute over who can reverse an allowance the government’s own system issued.
A test form becomes leave
The form belonged to Breeze Break, a pilot that lets doctors recommend outdoor time to patients. During a routine software update, a technician selected its “fresh-air day” field while configuring leave codes, according to Lina E. Mavrič, deputy director of the Island Public Service Office.
“The field was never meant to touch payroll. One selection carried it into the live system, and the system treated it as an approved entitlement,” Mavrič said. The office detected the error after workers began calling supervisors; it froze the code at 09:20 on Friday.
The largest group affected is 2,180 staff in the education service, followed by 1,460 in health facilities and 1,105 in local administration, the audit log shows. No extra salaries have been paid, but the finance office estimates that covering shifts and essential posts could cost EC$18.6 million (about €6.3 million) if all the leave is taken.
The state managed to prescribe a holiday to itself before it could prescribe one to patients.
Filipe Leal, public-service union secretary
Union challenges the recall
Leal said the union had received more than 300 calls from workers who wanted the days honoured. The staff handbook allows leave balances to be corrected after an administrative error, he said, but it does not spell out what happens when the error appears in a live account and employees have already made plans.
The system briefly approved 217 requests before the code was disabled, according to the office. Mavrič said managers had been told to pause those bookings while officials review each case; she could not say how many requests involved travel or other costs.
Doctors want the pilot protected
Nakul Mahajan, a Castries physician who took part in Breeze Break, said the pilot was small and voluntary, with referrals intended to help patients spend more time outdoors. “This was meant to be a simple clinical option, not a payroll perk,” he said, adding that the mix-up could undermine public confidence in the scheme.
The administration plans to present a correction notice to the legislature on Tuesday and publish a list of affected departments. Until then, some workers still see the 12 days on their accounts, while supervisors have been told not to approve them.
