Housing staff let down on jobs, Ombudsman finds
Complaints that the Housing Department mismanaged voluntary redundancies and then rehired only some of the workers have been partially upheld.
An Ombudsman's report released yesterday found that under the redundancy scheme, workers were encouraged to quit and then form their own companies to manage some privatised housing estate flats released from the department last year.
The Ombudsman's chief investigation officer, Li Wing-chi, said one allegation of maladministration was partially substantiated because the department failed to disclose there would be a limit on the number of estate units made available to former staff. The department was also partially guilty of maladministration when it took back only former staff who formed estate management companies as bosses but not those who joined these companies as employees.
Last year, it received 45 bids by former staff involving 280,000 housing units but only released 30,000 that year for their companies. A total of 1,600 workers have quit so far under the redundancy scheme. The department did not reveal how many went on to form estate management companies.
The department accepted the Ombudsman's criticism and said it had already revealed a further 60,000 units would be released for companies formed by former staff next year.
