The provincial government received quarterly reports on losses for the period from October 1st of last year, to December 31st last week. These reports included losses by the Crown Corporations, such as SaskTel and SaskPower. 

SaskTel reported losing just under $47,000 after an employee received his full wage benefits from the Workers’ Compensation Board while still working part-time with another employer. SaskTel employees who are approved for WCB benefits receive their pay from SaskTel, who is then reimbursed by the WCB. In this instance, WCB realized the overpayment, and the reimbursement to SaskTel was halted.  

The employee resigned from SaskTel when told they were told SaskTel would start to collect the overpayment through payroll deduction, and now the Crown phone company will look at a civil legal action to recoup the money. 

Going forward, SaskTel will look to have WCB pay the benefits directly to the employees.  

SaskPower reported three separate losses in the quarter. The first came when management noticed inappropriate time charges on an employee's timesheet, totalling just under $1,600. The incident was reviewed, and the employee disciplined, and the money has been recouped.  

Another incident involved an employee making inappropriate purchases using a SaskPower procurement card. The money, totalling just over $1,200, was repaid by the employee, and they were let go from SaskPower.  

The third incident was a reported loss of $53,730. It was noted to be timesheet fraud and gas theft by SaskPower involving two employees over a period of just under two years. No initial recoveries were made based on the duration of the incidents, and the approvals made by SaskPower management. One of the employees resigned, and the other was terminated.