Civil servant paid for doing nothing
0 
Jiang said he relied on the salary to support his family and his wife, who was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"We've contacted Jiang, asking him to return to the branch as soon as possible, but he rejected us," said Zheng Lixin, head of the Longyan construction bureau which oversees Jiang's branch.
"If he continues to do this, we'll take measures to address it in line with related policies," he said.
But Jiang said he will never go back to work until his suspension is canceled and his original position is reinstated.
Zheng told China Daily that Jiang could only receive a basic salary during his absence, and continuing to pay his salary was based partly on humanitarian reasons, but also because he had a recommendation from "above".
According to Jiang, his salary has increased from 800 yuan ($120) a month in 2003 to 2,600 yuan in 2011.
Lack of transparency in the payroll system in some government departments has long been blamed for a series of payment errors in the country.
In 2006, Chongqing was reported to have uncovered 3,000 employees in government and public institutions who were chronically absent, while neighboring Sichuan province had an even larger freeloading group, with nearly 40,000 civil servants costing 64 million yuan a year for doing nothing.
"Such payment errors happen in private companies too when salaries are paid to employees who have already left," said Wen Yueran, a human resources expert at Renmin University of China.
"But this time it's the stable job and higher income of civil servants that have caught people's eyes."
Wen said although there are laws and regulations, such as the Civil Servant Law, to help supervise such ill practices, they haven't been fully implemented.
"Another reason is that superiors' orders still carry great power in the country," Wen said.
Professor Tang Jun with the social policy research center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said it is good that more people are paying close attention to the errors.
"But sometimes things are easily exaggerated because civil servants are such a hot topic at the moment," he said.
Go to Forum >>0 Comments