A nurse from the Orange hospital says she is still waiting to be paid for working Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
THE NSW Nursing Association is investigating claims nurses at the Orange Health Service are still waiting to be paid for working Christmas Day and Boxing Day, despite the health service’s assurance the error has been resolved.
A nurse from the general hospital, who declined to be named, said she and her colleagues were still waiting to be paid for the two public holidays, with some owed as much as $1000.
Nurses at the hospital are usually paid fortnightly, but so far the nurse has only received a partial payment in her bank account of $200, with $500 remaining a week overdue.
“There’s a lot of people who are $500 to $1000 short in their pays,” she said.
“It’s very annoying. We’re made to work on Christmas. If you ask for it off you’re told no.
“There’s no benefits and no thanks or nothing. To not be paid is pretty lousy.”
Western NSW Local Health District director of nursing Joy Adams blamed an error in rostering for the payment delay for about 100 staff at the service, but said all known pay discrepancies had since been rectified.
“[It] unfortunately resulted in some staff across the Orange campus being incorrectly paid for their work on Christmas Day and Boxing Day,” she said.
“The health district has been working closely with the NSW Nurses Association to keep them informed of this matter ... and apologises to all staff who were affected by this error.”
NSW Nurses Association acting assistant general secretary Lisa Kremmer said the union’s local branch were following up the claims after being earlier assured all payments had been made.
She said they would keep pressure on the health service until all outstanding wages were paid.
“There are some emergency funds available, if that’s needed they can contact the director of nursing,” she said.
“We’ve asked the health service to reimburse our members for any out-of-pocket expenses.”
She said the health service’s transfer to the new payroll system Stafflink caused the problem.
“It may be that there are issues with the new payroll system which we will take up with the health service so there’s no ongoing problems across the state,” she said.
clare.colley@fairfaxmedia.com.au