Which document applies to the concurrent allowance regime for the Chairman of the People's Council at the commune level?

(Baonghean) -You Le Huy Khoa at email address "[email protected]"A letter sent to Nghe An Newspaper asking:Commune-level cadres who are Party Committee Secretaries and Commune People's Council Chairmen. Article 10 of Decree 92/2009/ND-CP stipulates that commune-level civil servants who hold concurrent positions and reduce the number of people in the maximum number specified in Clause 1, Article 10 of this Decree, from the date the competent authority decides on the concurrent position, will receive a concurrent allowance of 20% of the current salary plus leadership position allowance, excess allowance... (if any).

However, in Resolution No. 18/2011 dated July 29 on a number of regimes and financial expenditure norms for serving People's Councils at all levels in Nghe An, the Provincial People's Council has guidance: If People's Council delegates holding party and mass organization positions concurrently hold the position of People's Council Chairman, the concurrent allowance is equal to 10% of the current salary. Is this correct or incorrect? Which document is applied?

- Regarding your question, the Department of Home Affairs would like to answer as follows: Party positions including Secretary and Deputy Secretary who are concurrently holding the position of Chairman of the Commune People's Council shall enjoy the allowance regime according to Decision No. 58/2010/QD-UBND dated August 11, 2010, accordingly, Point 3, Article 1 stipulates the allowance level for holding concurrent positions clearly stating: For positions of cadres and civil servants, when concurrently holding a non-professional position, they shall receive an additional 20% of the allowance (or support) of the concurrent position. In case of holding multiple positions concurrently, they shall only receive an additional 20% of the concurrent position with the highest allowance level.

Thus, the above allowance level of the Provincial People's Committee is in accordance with the provisions of Decree 92/2009/ND-CP of the Government. Resolution No. 18/2011/NQ-HDND dated July 29, 2011 on a number of regimes and financial expenditure norms serving the activities of People's Councils at all levels in Nghe An, at Point 1, Article 3 clearly states that the allowance level for concurrent positions is for People's Council delegates holding party and mass organization positions. If they concurrently hold the position of People's Council Chairman, they will receive 10% of the current salary as prescribed for People's Councils at the provincial and district levels; no adjustment is made to the commune level.

The reason why grassroots civil servants have questions and inquiries is because of Document No. 159/TT.HĐND dated September 22, 2011 of the Provincial People's Council sent to the Department of Finance, the State Treasury, the Standing Committees of the District People's Councils and the Standing Committees of the Commune People's Councils, because the staff submitting the document did not fully understand Decision 58/2010/QD-UBND, so they instructed to include concurrently holding the position of Chairman of the Commune People's Council, leading to the above questions. This detail will be proposed by the Department of Home Affairs to the Provincial People's Council Legal Committee to review and amend in the near future.

Also related to the policy for grassroots cadres, reader Lo Van Muoi, a cadre of Huu Lap commune, wrote a letter asking:You are a commune-level cadre, with a work decision from July 2004 to January 2011, and you have just been promoted to level 2. According to Decree 92/2009/ND-CP, cadres have a period of 5 years (60 months) to receive level 1 salary. If you complete your duties and are not disciplined, when will you be promoted to level 2? If your salary is delayed from July 2009 to December 2010, will you be entitled to back pay and if so, where can you ask?

- The Department of Home Affairs answers this issue: If in fact, during the 5 years (60 months) of work, the cadre has not been disciplined and has always completed his/her tasks well, then after receiving the salary level 1 for exactly 5 years from the date of the decision, if you are re-elected, your salary will be raised to level 2. In case the Commune People's Committee and the District Home Affairs Department have not completed the salary review procedures on time, then after the review, from July 2009 to December 2010, the difference in salary level 2 will be paid in arrears. We suggest that you ask the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee and the commune accountant for instructions on the procedures so that the District Home Affairs Department can submit them to the District People's Committee for consideration and decision on paying back salary according to regulations.

Nguyen Hai