Pay fiasco pain rolls on

Medical staff still feeling impact on hip pockets

ABOUT 100 Gold Coast medical staff are being dudded wages every fortnight, seven years after the Queensland Health payroll debacle.

On average 94 staff are receiving “ad hoc” payments every two weeks to cover for payroll stuff-ups, WorkCover claims and late submissions of paperwork.

A Gold Coast University Hospital nurse who asked not to be named said she was short-changed $1000 recently and was laughed at when she said she didn’t know how she’d pay her mortgage.

“They refused to pay me until the following (fortnightly) pay cycle,” the nurse said. “They said ‘tough luck, we don’t fix it any more’.

“I have two kids and a mortgage. They just laughed (when I asked them who would pay the interest after I put my mortgage payment on my credit card).

“A lot of people are in financial stress due to this.”

Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union secretary Sandra Eales said representatives were regularly negotiating with the Queensland Health payroll department to correct errors.

“It’s a big, complex system and there are many niggly areas,” she said. “Health has recognised that as a problem for a significant time.”

The Queensland Health payroll debacle in 2010 – where thousands of staff were underpaid, overpaid or did not receive pay – has cost taxpayers $1.2 billion.

Of the $95.5 million overpaid to staff, about $60 million was still outstanding. Gold Coast staff owed nearly $6 million.

“Everyone’s just so used to it that they’re not speaking about it,” said the nurse, who knoew of colleagues owing up to $12,000.

“They have a payroll system that does not work.”

A Queensland Health spokesperson said ad hoc payments were not only used to correct payroll stuff-ups.

“Ad hoc payments may be processed for retrospective WorkCover payments, late submission of forms and adjustments for payroll errors.”

Queensland Health said ad hoc payments could be received on the next business day.

“The outstanding balance of overpayments is continuing to decline. As at 21 May 2017, there is an outstanding overpayments balance of $61.96 million owed by both current and former employees.”