Angry housing officers who have been forced to stay in the civil service despite signing up for voluntarily retirement under a scheme to privatise estate management have taken their case to the Ombudsman.
Many were forced to abandon plans to start up their own businesses because of a Housing Department policy U-turn prompted by 'operational difficulties', staff unions claimed.
The department launched the retirement scheme this year to encourage staff to leave the civil service, part of a plan to achieve estate management privatisation. A special compensation package, which for example would have allowed a senior housing manager with 20 years' experience to get about $4 million, was offered.
Some officers had planned to use the money to form property management firms to bid for estate management jobs. About 3,500 officers applied, but the department froze applications after July following signs of an exodus of senior staff. Only 900 officers were allowed to leave.
The Alliance of Housing Department Staff Unions convenor, Lam Man-cheuk, said yesterday: 'It is the department's miscalculation. Many officers have planned to set up their own firms, some of whom have even rented offices. Now, they cannot go and have been forced to give up their business deals. It is maladministration and is cheating the staff.'
A department spokeswoman refused to comment.
