Schools in Argeș could sue teachers over allegedly overpaid allowances

More than 130 schools in Argeș are recalculating payments made to employees who won court cases over allowances for hazardous working conditions. If the review finds that staff received too much, schools could seek repayment, including through legal action.

The dispute began after an Education Ministry audit carried out this spring. The audit reviewed more than 20 educational institutions and concluded that some schools may have calculated the allowances and related salary differences incorrectly. The Argeș School Inspectorate then ordered schools to recheck whether court decisions had been applied correctly.

According to a document sent to the schools, auditors found incorrectly calculated salary differences totaling about 957,286 lei at the 23 institutions examined. The review mainly involved the salary rights of directors and deputy directors at 22 of those institutions. The inspectorate is now recalculating the payments across 133 schools.

The audit identified several alleged errors. In some cases, schools included the hazardous-conditions allowance without the required documents confirming the relevant working conditions. It also said the COVID-19 risk factor continued to be included after the epidemiological risk period ended on June 27, 2023.

Auditors further raised the issue of adding one allowance to another by including payments such as merit bonuses, class-supervisor allowances, management allowances, financial-control allowances and special-education bonuses in calculations where they should not have appeared. They also said schools may have failed to account for the precise periods when directors and deputy directors held their posts, which could have increased the amounts paid. The inspectorate said it had been recommended to recalculate the sums and recover any money found to have been overpaid. The union challenges the initiative.