Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 28/02) - Questions are legion about severance pay to John Bayly and Lynda Sorensen, but one item in particular caught the attention of MLAs and federal auditor general Sheila Fraser: the performance bonuses paid to the two employees.

Both Sorensen and Bayly were paid the maximum allowable severance pay, 15 per cent of their annual salaries. That amounted to $25,000 to Bayly and $20,000 to Sorensen.

But what caught Fraser's attention was that neither employee's file contained a rationale for the full amount. What the files did contain were letters of reprimand issued to both employees after they were implicated in a conflict of interest scandal last October.

"In a situation like that, there is obviously a bit of a contradiction," said Fraser, speaking to the committee on accountability and oversight last Thursday.

According to Neil Papineau, the auditor who conducted interviews for the report, standard practice is to for the employee to write a self-assessment. In addition, the person doing the assessment must provide a statement describing how well the employee performed against written objectives.

"Then you must meet with them and discuss in detail their assessment. At the end of all that, you arrive as to what you are going to pay in performance pay," said Papineau.

Premier Stephen Kakfwi, who awarded the bonuses, defended his decision in the legislature Friday afternoon, saying both employees deserved the five-figure bonuses.

"I've always held Mr. Bayly in the highest esteem and so have you. He's hard working, he's a man of integrity who admitted the mistakes. Lynda Sorensen is hard working and has a long record in government and the public service without any blemish. None whatsoever. She put long hours in. Her work was exemplary. Both of these individuals worked together as a team ... and they performed their job extremely well."

But many MLAs were angered at the payouts.

"The message that sends out to the public of the Northwest Territories and indeed all public servants is certainly the wrong one," said Yellowknife South MLA Brendan Bell.

Talking about Kakfwi's involvement in severance negotiations, Mackenzie Delta MLA David Krutko said, "I did have trust in the premier, but today I've lost that trust."