KEY POINTS:
Over $15,000 a week is being paid to suspended Corrections Department staff.
Figures released under the Official Information Act said 16 staff were suspended as of June 30 and in total their weekly wage bill was $15,279.
At any point in the last financial year, between 10 and 20 staff were suspended. The department has 7565 staff.
There were 60 employment investigations being conducted as of June 30 and in the year to that date, 19 staff were sacked and $65,000 was spent settling personal grievances.
In notes accompanying the figures, organisational development general manager Vincent Arbuckle said the department expected high standards of staff.
Employment investigations were done for a range of reasons, from abuse of sick leave to theft.
Sometimes staff were the victims of false or malicious complaints from prisoners but all allegations had to be investigated.
"Some of these allegations are extremely complex and these particular cases can take considerable time to fully investigate," he said.
"For reasons of procedural fairness, the department is not lawfully able to suspend staff without pay for the duration of an investigation."
- NZPA
