INDEPENDENT NEWS

Police make corrective payments to former staff

Published: Thu 14 Aug 2014 04:03 PM
Police make corrective payments to former staff
New Zealand Police has begun a process to make corrective payments to a number of former staff whose pay was incorrectly calculated when they left police.
From 1 April 2004, the Holidays Act 2003 became applicable to Police. Before the Police payment system was upgraded to meet the full requirements of the Act, some incorrect payments were made to staff between April 2004 and October 2010, including those who left police during this time. These issues came to light in 2010.
A project was initiated in 2010 to work through the issues identified and make corrective payments. This initially focussed on current staff, who have now received appropriate adjustments. We are now focused on rectifying incorrect payments to those staff who left police between 2004 - 2010.Approximately 3,500 individuals are currently affected and police will be writing to all of them to advise of the process involved for receiving money they are owed.
For many, the amounts involved are small, with 2021 individuals owed less than $200, of whom 807 will receive under $10, while 485 are owed less than $1.
Superintendent Richard Chambers, Acting Deputy Chief Executive People, says regardless of the amounts involved it is important that police does everything it can to put this right:
"We accept that this has taken a long time, but it has been a lengthy, complex process.
"I am very focussed on ensuring that we do the right thing for our former staff so they all get the opportunity to receive monies owed to them. This will include interest and superannuation payments."
The total value of leave payments currently owed is $2.95m, which includes the updated superannuation and interest payments. These funds have been set aside for some time and the cost will not impact on other police business.
The error arose from the definitions of pay rates used by police when making final calculations for staff members who were leaving in the 2004 - 2010 period. All staff have a base hourly rate, with the Holidays Act introducing ordinary and average weekly earnings. Calculations were made using the base rate, but this did not reflect the fact that many staff could earn more once a range of allowances and entitlements were factored in.
"We have today begun writing to all former staff involved, while a separate approach will be taken for those where mailing addresses are not known or the recipient is deceased.
"We will make every effort to put this right and we have created a special page on the police website with further information."
Modifications to the police payrolls systems means correct payments have been made since October 2010 and staff who left after then are not affected by this issue.
ENDS

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