The B.C. Lottery Corp. (BCLC) is under fire for its early-retirement program that cost the province $25 million.
A government review notes the organization completed a restructuring in March 2014 as part of a strategy to reduce fiscal 2014/15 operating costs by $20 million.
As part of the restructuring exercise, BCLC offered early retirement and severance packages to employees, age 50 and older, to reduce the impact of involuntary terminations. The plan anticipated the elimination of 68 positions, saving approximately $6.6 million.
However, the restructuring resulted in 142 employees leaving BCLC and cost about $25 million, consisting of $11.6 million in severance payments and $13.5 million in pension and other costs.
“During this restructuring, all senior manager-level employees and above received 18 months’ severance regardless of their length of service with BCLC,” says the review. “Pension costs were significantly higher than initially forecast and then increased further because of higher than expected voluntary exits.”
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