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The Ministry of Finance has debunked rumours making the rounds that workers with salary arrears would only be paid three months of those arrears irrespective of the number of months they have worked. A release from the Public Relations Unit of the ministry in Accra assured all affected public service employees that �this is not true�. According to the release, as part of the government�s measures to improve and control the management of the payroll and ensure that only deserving workers earn salary arrears, the Ministry of Finance issued a directive in November 2013 to all ministries, departments and agencies stipulating the procedure for payment of the arrears. Directive The directive, according to the release, stated that the ministry would pay an initial three months� salary arrears to beneficiaries, including new entrants, those promoted or upgraded, as well as those re-engaged or re-instated. �Payment of any outstanding arrears beyond the three months will be done after the submission of completed payments of salary arrears forms through the sector ministries for validation and subsequently to the Ministry of Finance for payment,� the release said. The release explained that the policy directive was issued after the ministry had detected several anomalies such as unjustifiable backdating of appointment and promotion dates in the processing of inputs forms of employees at various cost centres, adding that the directive applied to all public sector employees. The information to be provided on the form for payments of salary arrears, according to the release, was agreed on after deliberations with the leadership of some public sector unions, including GNAT, NAGRAT and Coalition of Concerned Teachers, and the information required included reasons for delays at all levels and justification for the payment. A directive on the procedures for redress was also issued to all sector ministries, metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies, director generals, chairpersons and chief executive officers, as well as leaders of organised labour groups. The statement assured all affected employees that their claims would be paid after they had been audited, and also directed all government employees on the mechanised payroll with issues relating to salary arrears to contact their respective human resource departments or district offices for processing using the approved forms which could also be downloaded from the Ministry of Finance�s website-