Togiola issues executive order establishing policy for
short-term/temporary contract employees

Thanks to an Executive Order issued by Governor Togiola Tulafono on Monday, September 24, short-term and contract employees are now permitted to accrue annual and sick leave, according to formulations contained in every short-term contract.

The formulation is to be a permanent part of the short-term/temporary contract form, and be uniform for all such employees. It is the director of the Department of Human Resources that will set the formulation by administrative rule, with periodic reviews every two years.

The Executive Order, in its entirety, establishes policy for the American Samoa Government in dealing with annual and sick leave entitlements for short-term and temporary contract workers, limiting the terms of their contracts, and authorizing the retroactive restoration of all annual and sick leave for such employees.

The Executive Order, which now becomes the ASG’s official policy, takes effect immediately.

Its purpose is “to establish a fair, justified, and uniform approach in dealing with short-term and contract employees in order to assure the ready availability of said workers when needed by the American Samoa Government.”

The uniform accrual rate is four (4) hours of annual leave and four (4) hours of sick leave per biweekly pay period actually worked.

In addition to leave entitlements, the Executive Order also states that the term of contract for all short-term and temporary contract workers shall not exceed one (1) year.

This means that “upon the expiration of the term of contract, the short-term or contract employee shall either be moved to ‘career service’ status, or be terminated from employment, unless valid justification is presented to the Governor showing why the employment contract should be extended for an additional year. Said term shall be made a permanent part of the short-term/temporary contract form, and shall be uniform for all such employees.”

According to the policy, the majority of short-term employees are local hires who possess certain skills and talents that are needed in several different areas of importance. They differ from two-year contract specialists in that the ladder are usually recruited from off island for their expertise in certain areas that are no less important.

“Two-year contract specialists are enticed to accept contract employment through incentives that include low-cost housing, free medical care and other benefits like annual and sick leave accrued according to contract agreements,” the policy says.

“The benefits that short-term contract employees provide to the American Samoa Government, by virtue of their employment, are no less important. However, their employment contracts contain no incentives for initiation or continuation of employment with the American Samoa Government. Yet, by and large, these are local hires that are employed to perform similar services which require, at times, that they take time off of work for personal reasons.”

The Governor pointed out that a review of the applicable authorities which govern annual and sick leave for contract workers reveals no statutory or regulatory prohibition of annual and sick leave for short-term and contract employees.

“While these same authorities cite specific formulations for two-year contract specialists and for career service employees, the absence of a formulation specific for ‘short-term contract employees’ shall not be construed as a prohibition of such a benefit to these employees,” Togiola explained.

Copies of the Governor’s Executive Order have been distributed to all ASG agency and department heads.