EXPATRIATE civil servants warned that the Government faced paying at least $100 million to compensate ''wrongly dismissed'' officers who challenged the localisation policy in court.
The Association of Expatriate Civil Servants arrived at the amount based on the number of expatriate officers affected by the policy since the enactment of the Bill of Rights, their loss of income, and possible damage to their future prospects.
The Government has refused to renew the contracts of about 50 overseas officers since the rights bill came into effect on June 8, 1991.
Mr Allan Roger, chairman of the association's localisation committee, said the Government could avert payments if it was prepared to amend the localisation policy before officers went to court.
Mr Roger said the association was confident of winning the cases because human rights experts suggested the localisation policy contravened the Bill of Rights.
While they would not want to resolve the matter in court, they had to prepare for the possibility because members were increasingly being forced to leave the civil service, he said.
The association had advised members to keep records of their costs and losses as a result of losing employment, in case the court action had to be taken.