COUNTRY Health SA came under the spotlight at a parliamentary committee following testimony from a current and former employee about underpayment issues at the Mount Gambier Hospital.
Current employee Ron McBride and former registered nurse Sylvia Jones faced the four member parliamentary committee on wage theft at The Barn on Wednesday afternoon to detail issues with incorrect payments.
Mr McBride told committee chair Irene Pnevmatikos, Terry Stephens, Emily Bourke and Connie Bonaros he was backpaid $5200 due to errors in payroll and said he was likely to have more owing over the last three and a half years.
According to Mr McBride, a change in the hospital’s payroll structure in 2016 has resulted in employees being paid incorrectly due to human error and issues with the system.
He said since responsibility of payroll switched to the line managers, there were significant areas of concern around the coding system which resulted in staff being underpaid.
“If I go back to when I first started, we had a payroll section in the hospital,” he said.
“Currently the staff that now doing that, well nine days out of 10 they are working in the kitchen and one day they do the computer work.
“They need people who know what they are doing to be able to do it.”
Mr McBride, whose testimony is protected under parliamentary privilege, said although he was working 11.5 hour shifts, a staff member wanted to pay him for for a seven hour block.
He further stated other staff who were called in to work within his section remained on their levels of pay while doing the tasks of a level three operator.
“Staff members from my work group have been going down to ensure they get the correct pay,” Mr McBride said.
“What is on the computer is technically wrong, so with whatever gets put on a computer, you get the wrong stuff coming back.
“There is a code for public holidays, if it not on the computer and programd in as such, you do not get the pay.
“You might get your night shift pay but you wont get the correct pay with the additional penalties.”
The committee were shocked by Mr McBride’s testimony, with a number of members expressing their concern vocally, including one who murmured they could not believe this was the operations of a government organisation.
After Mr McBride, Ms Jones told the committee of her long-standing issues at both the Mount Gambier and Penola hospitals with payments.
She supported Mr McBride’s comments around the entering of incorrect codes.
Ms Jones also claimed she had been overpaid and that her time sheets had been changed.
SA Health was contacted for comment, but indicated they were unsure whether they could comment on ongoing parliamentary hearings.
