Auditor General Terrance Bastian revealed that the Ministry of Education and the Department of Education overpaid employees to the tune of nearly $1 million in the course of a year and recommended that legal action be taken to recover the funds.

"During our scrutiny of correspondences an exorbitant amount of $941,102.52 (overpayment of salaries) is indebted to the government of The Bahamas from numerous employees," according to the 2014 Report of The Auditor General, which was tabled in the House of Assembly by Speaker Dr. Kendal Major yesterday.

"Further, officers are indebted to the Bahamas government in the amount of $86,780.29. However, these officers were not included in the indebted letters provided by the ministry and Department of Education.

"We recommended that a comprehensive listing of all overpayments should be provided along with an account of amounts overpaid. Also, we recommended that management take effective steps to collect all outstanding funds owed to the government of The Bahamas and where applicable that legal action should be taken to address the concerns noted.

"Further, we recommended that due care and attention should be taken when removing an employee from the pay sheet."

The report covers the period between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014. The report said the ministry and Department of Education collectively employ 4,937 staff members including teachers and administrators. The report said in some cases teachers are rehired after the mandatory retirement age.

"Depending on the need for teachers, they are allowed to work until they are 70 years old on a year-to-year basis, providing they prove medical fitness," the report said. "The pension for these teachers would cease and they would be rehired at the maximum of the teacher's scale. There are 116 teachers who are administratively posted and fall under the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) industrial agreement and would work from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., instead of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

"There are 39 persons who are paid by vouchers and 300 contractual workers between the Ministry of Education and Department of Education. There are several instances where persons were overpaid salaries and arrangements were made to recover the funds. Also, there are several cases where legal action was required."

The Ministry of Education is responsible for all public education institutions in The Bahamas. There are more than 200 schools across the country, the report said.

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