Most NAPE employees — 96 per cent — who requested severance payouts in the first quarter will receive those payments, Finance Minister Tom Osborne announced Friday.
This will represent $35.7 million in payments to 3,422 employees, he said in a news release.
The remaining employees who requested first quarter payments will receive them in the second quarter.
The elimination of severance was among changes the provincial government recently introduced to compensation and benefits for NAPE employees.
When all collective agreements are complete, the provincial government said elimination of severance will save government $25 million annually, the news release said.
“In light of the high volume of requests by NAPE employees to receive their severance in the first quarter of 2018-19, it initially seemed unlikely that we would be able to honour the significant majority of the requests,” Osborne said.
“However, due to the tremendous efforts of the Human Resource Secretariat Service Centre and payroll staff, 96 per cent of those that requested first quarter payments will receive them in that period.”