64 municipal employees, hired by the Orihuela council within employment programs, and subsidised by the Generalitat, have been overpaid, by up to 3,000 euros each, over the last eight months and now they have been told that the money must be reimbursed.
The employees are workers from two employment training programs lasting a period of 12 months, and subsidised by the Generalitat to the tune of one million euros.
The error was detected by Ciudadanos leader Jose Aix during a check of Council salary payments for the month of May. The Councillor for Human Resources, Rafael Almagro (PP), said that none of the affected workers realised they were being overpaid although according to the local Spanish press several of the employees did report the matter to their department.
However each of those overpaid will now have their salaries dramatically reduced with some now receiving only 100 euros per month. The councillor said that the overpayment was due to human error.
Aix said that the budget, which was meant to last a year, has been exhausted in a little more than eight months. He denounced what he considers to be a lack of organization and internal checks within the City Council that “we have been suffering in Cs since we joined the municipal government in February 2017”.
