Prison Officer back-pay delay

Following is part of a letter received from Paul Irving, Executive Director of Human resources at the Department of Corrective Services, on the delay and arrangements for settling the back-pay arising from the Public Sector Pay Case.

After acknowledging the resolution from Long Bay POVB members requiring back-pay by 17 March, and pointing out that the 4% increase (as opposed to the back-pay) was delivered in January, well ahead of the Premier's designated period, he has this to say about the back-pay problems:

"However, when arrangements were being made to pay the arrears for the period 12 July 2004 to 9 January 2005, a number of technical difficulties were experienced with the Department's payroll system and the automatic calculation of increases to allowances, annual leave loading and salaries of officers who had changed pay groups since last July. It was necessary for the Department to seek the assistance of MinCom to program additional software to resolve these problems to allow the retrospective payments to be made. Whilst these system enhancements resolved some of the technical difficulties, additional programming changes were required to resolve all technical difficulties. These additional programming changes are now being tested and I anticipate that all arrears will be paid to staff on payday 24 March 2005.

"I am sure you would agree that it is preferable to ensure that that payment is accurate before paying the retrospective monies and that further problems are not created through the necessity of having to recoup or make additional payments.

"I also point out that it is not possible for the Department to make a payment in the middle of a pay period in order to meet the deadline nominated in the motion from the POVB of the Long Bay Correctional Complex.

"It has also been raised by me that a separate payment of the arrears could reduce an employee's taxation liability. This is not the case, as the arrears are spread over the entire adjustment period to ensure that only a marginal taxation liability is incurred. This also ensures accuracy in taxation deductions for the fiscal year.

"I have disseminated information widely throughout the Department regarding the anticipated date for the payment of the arrears and the difficulties experienced with the system (copy attached). I would appreciate it if you could ensure that the delegates of the POVB sub branches are also provided with this information."