Togiola Lifts Hiring Freeze
American Samoa Governor Togiola Tulafono yesterday lifted a two-month freeze on hiring, promotion and incremental pay increases for the American Samoa Government (ASG) workforce.
The freeze, which went into effect on May 19, allowed the government to deal with a 50-cent minimum wage increase that went into effect on May 25.
Last month, the governor said on his weekend radio program that he was going to lift the freeze but no official action was taken.
In a memo issued Wednesday, Togiola thanked all departments for their work in reviewing personnel rosters and preparations made in anticipation of the latest federally-mandated wage increase.
“As a result of your work, ASG is prepared to move forward despite the effects of the wage increase on government operations,” he wrote.
Togiola said last month that the review of the workforce on the impact of the wage hike done by the Department of Human Resources shows that ASG will not be required to carry out a reclassification or change of job description for workers in the minimum wage
level as well as those in the next pay scale level.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the new minimum wage for government workers is $3.91 per hour. Togiola said 117 employees are affected by the new wage level.
Besides those workers, Togiola said 134 employees will get raises so that their pay scale is higher than the minimum wage level employees.
