Government workers receive double salary in error

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico-A computerised error this week distributed over US $38 million in undue wages to Puerto Rican civil servants who receive their bi-weekly paychecks via direct deposit to their bank accounts.

The workers allegedly received an entire month’s salary for a fifteen day pay period, a blow to the newly elected Governor Luis Fortuño's administration who only last week made claims that it was necessary to approve a US $4 billion loan to guarantee civil servant salaries this month.

Treasury Department Secretary Juan Carlos Puig said that the error was quickly caught and no funds were lost to workers capitalising on the error.

“Some 64,762 transactions were reversed in their totality. Nobody received a duplicate payment, not even one cent more than what they were supposed to receive,” Puig said.

According to Caribbean Net News, “hundreds of public workers called local radio stations throughout the day stating that their banking statements reflected that Treasury had deposited their bi-weekly check twice”.

“We identified the problem, we made the corrective measures and all of the transactions were reversed, which means that nobody had access to the double payroll payment,” the Treasury Secretary further said.

An investigation into the double payment has been initiated to determine what the cause of the incident was, who may have been behind it and if it was accidental or intentional.

Additionally, the double payment triggered the Treasury Secretary to implement a “second filter” on the direct deposit process, which is handled by the Banco Popular of Puerto Rico.