A leaked payroll of the Judiciary obtained by this Verity News revealed that a large portion of employees at the Judiciary earn far below US$150 monthly.
The entire Judiciary has 1,996 employees on its September 2025 payroll. The gross wage bill is US$602,995.56 while the net wage bill stands at US$475,867.78.
The payroll leak, part of a broader dossier of government salary disclosures from various ministries and agencies, has intensified public scrutiny over civil service wages in Liberia.
According to the 2024 CSA Annual Report, Liberia’s public workforce includes 67,746 employees across 104 spending entities, with 42,076 classified as civil servants.
Among the leaked payroll details, some judicial staff earn as low as US$86.99 per month after deductions, amounts described by workers as unlivable in the face of Liberia’s rising cost of living.
Employee ID 430750 is recorded as earning US$115 in gross and US$86.99 net. Another worker, ID 431581, takes home just US$87.71 after deductions.
“It’s very frustrating for me,” said one employee, speaking on condition of anonymity. “What can US$86.99 do for me and my family? It can’t even cover my transportation for the month.”
Others echoed similar sentiments, pointing out the impossibility of affording basic necessities such as rent, school fees, food, and medical care on their current wages.
Another employee, earning US$88.04 in net salary, said, “This amount can’t even pay rent, much less take care of a household. We are working full-time jobs but living like beggars.”
Several payroll entries show repetitive figures, such as multiple workers earning exactly US$115.50 gross and around US$103 net, raising questions about wage standardization across the judiciary.
Employee ID 416002, who earns US$117.60 gross and US$94.64 net, said, “I’ve worked for over a decade, but I still take home less than US$100. There’s no dignity in this.”
Another judicial worker earning US$111.86 monthly noted: “We are treated like we don’t matter. There are no benefits, no housing allowance, and no transport subsidy.”
“We are living hand to mouth,” said one clerk whose gross salary is US$142.80. “There’s nothing to save. By the second week of the month, I’m already borrowing money.”
In total, more than a dozen entries on the payroll show workers earning under US$130 net, despite working in one of the three branches of government responsible for upholding justice.
“People see the Judiciary and think everyone here is earning big,” said a court staffer. “But the reality is that most of us can’t even afford decent clothes to wear to work.”
A senior aide who earns just above US$100 remarked, “How do they expect us to serve the public with integrity when we’re struggling just to eat?”
Liberian activist in exile commented, “If they, the big shots, think civil servants can survive on US$86.99 to US$150, why can’t they also survive on US$1,000 to US$5,000 in the same country?”
Judicial workers now hope that public attention to the leaked payroll will force the government to revisit their wage structure.
Other judicial staffer, who is a sheriff, put it: “We’re not asking for riches, we’re asking to live like human beings.”
