Kenyan teachers benefit from reimbursement of medical expenses and allowances .Teachers can also face “returned salaries” situation, where their paid salary can be returned to TSC.Conditions for the three are explained below.
MEDICAL EXPENSES
Hospital charges are reimbursed to teachers who incur medical bills in respect of self, spouse and children less than 22 years at the prescribed rates.
Application is made on prescribed form (TSC MED. 3) and attaching original receipts.
Ex gratia
This is payable to teachers who incur in-patient medical bill and in the opinion of the commission requires such assistance to enable him/her overcome the financial hardships.
A teacher should apply in writing attaching a copy of hospital invoice and medical reimbursement voucher. The amount payable is net medical bill less 25%, subject to availability of funds.
The approval for payment is done twice a year – June and December.
ALLOWANCES
Allowances paid to teachers are classified as either remunerative or reimbursable. Remunerative allowances are paid with salary while reimbursable allowances are refundable upon application.
Remunerative allowances
There are two types of remunerative allowances; automatic and those paid upon application. Automatic allowances include house, medical, commuter and hardship allowances.
Allowances paid on application include the following:
Responsibility allowance –This is paid to headteachers,deputy headteachers and senior teachers who are at Job Group K and below.
Special duty allowance –This is payable to teachers below job group M appointed to administrative posts by commission and deployed in arid and semi-arid lands.
Readers allowance-This is paid to a visually impaired teacher who has engaged a reader whose minimum qualification is not below KCSE D+/KCE Division III. The allowance is paid at a fixed rate determined from time to time by the commission.
Interpreters Allowance –This is payable to deaf teachers who engage interpreters while on study leave.
Special school allowance –This is paid to teachers specialized in special needs education and who have been deployed to teach in special schools or units.
Transfer Allowance –This is payable to teachers who have been transferred from one district to another, provided the transfer is initiated by the Commission.
Reimbursable Expenses – The commission reimburses the following expenses to teachers
Travelling expenses: The teacher is eligible for reimbursement only in the following circumstances;
- Where a teacher’s interdiction has been revoked.
- While traveling to attend an interview,
- Travelling to a station on first posting outside home District,
- Traveling from duty station outside home District on retirement.
- Teachers working in hardship areas travelling to and from home during school holidays. The teacher’s home District must be outside the hardship area.
Teachers should apply on prescribed forms attaching supporting documents.
Quota per diem: This is daily subsistence allowance paid to teachers on official assignment. Application must be made at least 14 days before travelling.
RETURNED SALARIES
Salaries are returned to the Commission due to:
- Closure of your current bank account before the new one is operational.
- Recalling of salary by the Commission.
Any returned salary should be claimed in writing through the head of institution.
Over Payment
An employee is required to notify the Commission of any erroneous payment. Where the overpayment is as result of death, the next of kin should notify the bank immediately.To prevent overpayment:
- Heads of institutions should report cases of death and absenteeism within 48 hours.
- Heads of institutions to promptly return uncollected or misdirected pay slips to TSC headquarters with a covering letter detailing reasons why the pay slips are uncollected.
- Under no circumstances should uncollected Pay slips be re-routed.
Recovery of overpayment
Overpayment constitutes government liability whose recovery takes priority over all other deductions on payroll.Overpayment will be recovered as follows:
In reinstatement cases, outstanding overpayment will be recovered in full
In cases of retirement or death, any government liability is recovered in full from pension benefits or gratuity.
