Bank of Valletta has reversed its controversial decision to halt payments of its employees’ performance bonus for last year based on individual appraisals.

In a memo to employees, outgoing CEO Charles Borg said that following a review of the situation, “the bank has directed management to rectify any anomalies that may have been created”.

The issue goes back to last December, when the usual yearly appraisals for each employee’s performance targets were not completed. The bank decided to grant a one-time ex gratia bonus to all employees in recognition of their efforts throughout the year.

The bonus was calculated on the average of the previous three-year performance appraisals and came with the proviso that adjustments would be made for those employees who achieved a better actual score in 2014 than the average score.

However, to the surprise of employees who were expecting a top-up, the bank last month failed to honour its promise and decided that no additional bonuses would be paid irrespective of the scores in the individual appraisals.

A flood of complaints followed, with the unions insisting that the bank must correct this anomaly. Following further discussions, the BOV management has now conceded that it made a mistake.

More in Times of Malta.