Departing Tallinn deputy mayoral advisers paid severance bonuses
Tallinn City Secretary Priit Lello has signed an order awarding bonuses to advisors to the previous city government's deputy mayors.
The reasoning is recognition of commendable work while in office.
Lello signed the order in respect of a "one-time bonus for good work" to the advisors to the outgoing city government's deputy mayors on the same day, Sunday, that Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE) was voted into office.
Ivan Lavrentjev, advisor to Deputy Mayor Vladimir Svet (Center) received a bonus of €7,200 in respect of his excellent performance (all figures gross).
Another advisor who worked in Svet's office, Danel Suurtamm, received a bonus of €6,000.
Julia Trofimova, advisor to Deputy Mayor Betina Beškina (Center) was paid a leaving bonus of €6,960, while advisor Britten Torstenberg was paid €4,300.
Jass Juuremaa, advisor to Deputy Mayor Tiit Terik (Center), received a bonus of 3,000.
Advisors in the offices of deputy mayors Joosep Vimm (SDE) and Andrei Kante (Center), Kadi Kenk and Teet Tiko respectively, were also granted bonuses of €3,000 each. Jekaterina Karelina, another advisor who had been working n Kante's office received a bonus of €2,150.
Advisors who continue in their jobs to return bonuses paid in error
Additionally, according to Lello's order, advisors who were working the office of Deputy Mayor Kaarel Oja (SDE), namely Keiu Virro and Natalie Mets, along with Keiti Kljavin, an advisor in the office of Deputy Mayor Madle Lippus (SDE), also each received a €3,000 bonus.
However, in this case, Oja and Lippus are continuing in office in the new Reform-SDE-Isamaa-Eesti 200 coalition in Tallinn.
For this reason, one of the advisors, Natalie Mets, said, plus the fact that the deputy mayors are retaining the advisors named above, all three will return their bonuses to the city coffers. That they had been issued them at all was due to a clerical oversight, she said.
Mets told ERR: "This was an error made by the city's HR department; we also received compensation for unused vacation days, which we will also be returning."
The order further reveals that the bonuses were paid from city government office wage funds.
ERR reported on Monday that last Friday, just before leaving her position as Tallinn Kesklinn district elder, and just after it had become clear the new coalition was likely to enter office Sunday, Monika Haukanõmm (Center) issued her deputy, Nikita Groznov, with a bonus of €6,600.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Urmet Kook, Andrew Whyte
