Bureaucratic bungle leaves specialist forest firefighters unpaid
Public servants who worked tirelessly during the bushfire crisis haven’t been paid overtime, despite some of them losing their homes in the fires.
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Victorian public servants who worked overtime during this summer’s bushfire crisis have not received the extra payments they are owed because of a bureaucratic bungle.
It is understood some government workers have missed out on overtime and other allowance payments, with their employer acknowledging there have been some delays.
Public servants including specialist forest firefighters have played a key role in responding to and cleaning up after the bushfires that have ravaged the state.
Community and Public Sector Union state secretary Karen Batt said some of the workers affected by the payment problems were based in Gippsland and had lost homes and personal belongings in fires.
“Payment delays are unacceptable when these workers have spent their summer fighting fires and protecting Victorians,” she said.
“God forbid if MPs were to miss being paid their allowances and higher duties.”
Ms Batt said making the payments “should have been pre-organised and pre-loaded” in a “straightforward” computer system.
She warned the situation could be worse after the state government delivered a planned $4 billion in cuts to the public service.
“There won’t be anyone employed to pay the workforce,” Ms Batt said.
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A Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning spokesman confirmed specialist forest firefighters ”who have worked on the bushfires will be paid their allowances and overtime as required under their workplace agreement”.
“Given the exceptionally busy season — with staff working multiple deployments and rotations — there are a significant number of timesheets being processed, which has resulted in some delays in processing payments,” he said.
“We are working hard to process outstanding payments as quickly as possible and thank staff for their patience.”