Aruba’s civil-service court has overturned the immediate dismissal of a government employee who altered a payslip, finding that dismissal was disproportionate even though the conduct amounted to serious misconduct.
The employee has worked in financial administration at the Department of Public Health since August 2017. The dispute arose after the worker submitted September and October 2025 payslips while applying for a loan from Island Finance.
Altered salary information
According to the court report, verification with the government’s human-resources department found that the September payslip had been changed. The net amount was altered from Afl. 2,628.88 to Afl. 3,515.79, and a line recording a wage attachment had been removed.
The employee said the attachment was an error because the loan had already been repaid and the amount deducted from the salary was later returned. The worker argued that the edit was intended to reflect the actual net income after the payroll record was not corrected.
Court finds dismissal excessive
The court nevertheless treated the alteration of an official document as serious misconduct. It found, however, that immediate and unconditional dismissal went too far because the employee was not trying to misrepresent the real salary and had handled the error improperly rather than attempting to create a false income.
A previous disciplinary issue was not considered serious enough to justify the harsher sanction.
Government must issue a new decision
The dismissal order was annulled, requiring the Governor to make a new decision. The court indicated that a conditional dismissal with a two-year probationary period would be sufficient and ordered the government to pay Afl. 1,400 in legal costs.
Source: Information based on reporting from 24ora.
