From Auditor General's Report. - ContributedST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Nalcor Energy paid its executive and management employees salaries at a much higher rate than comparable government positions — and, in most cases, higher than industry benchmarks.
"For context, these changes happened when provincial government employees were under a pay freeze," the report states. “Ultimately, we could not determine a business reason for this variance. When a public sector entity's compensation practices are more lucrative than others, it creates disparity in the public service, adds to recruitment and retention challenges, and ultimately reduces the public's trust that public money is being managed appropriately.”Three executive positions examined in the audit found that Nalcor had paid significantly higher salaries than in comparable government positions.
The vice-president of transmission, distribution and the Newfoundland and Labrador system operator position’s total salary of $266,600 was also double the $127,019 salary for a comparable government position, according to the report.The report concludes that, overall, Nalcor’s management and executive employees' total compensation was, and continues to be, higher than the total compensation of comparable provincial government positions.
"We could not determine any business reason for this variance. It appears salary and benefit levels will not be comparable to government unless changes are made.”Response from Hydro “Similarly, a number of other management positions have been combined, with team members taking on additional accountability."She listed other changes, including: