South Australia’s MFS fireys win ‘hundreds of thousands’ after travel allowance blunder

South Australian firefighters are set to get a big payout after a travel allowance botch-up that the union says is “one of the worst cases” in public sector history.

UFUSA secretary Max Adlam has celebrated fireys winning a court order against the MFS. Picture: File

The state’s fireys will receive a payout in the “hundreds of thousands” for a travel allowance bungle by the MFS that’s been labelled by their union as “one of the worst cases” it has seen.

At least 50 firefighters in SA are owed unpaid travel allowances from August 1 last year, and new court orders mean the MFS has only 28 days to pay up, including interest on the late payments.

Evidence given at the SA Employment Tribunal by MFS executive director Prema Osborne showed the organisation dedicated an average of 12 hours per week of labour to paying allowances, and that binding instructions prevented more staff being hired to assist in the process.

UFU secretary Max Adlam said while the result was pleasing, the case revealed “hypocrisy” by the state government and was “one of the worst cases … in South Australian public sector history”.

SA fireys are owed “hundreds of thousands” after an allowance bungle by the MFS. Picture: File

“This is a government which came into power promising to pass wage theft laws in South Australia, and which not only has not done so, but is happy to understaff critical government departments so it can present budget savings, with the necessary result that workers are not paid properly,” Ms Adlam said.

“In this case the MFS broke the law and failed to pay firefighters what it owed them, and didn’t fix the situation for months on end.

“Firefighters are left to assume that paying emergency services first responders their lawful entitlements is not a priority for a government that rode into government on the back of campaigns funded by union members in emergency services.

“It’s time for the Malinauskas Government to put its money where its mouth is, to provide adequate resourcing to the MFS to stop this ever happening again, and to pass laws that subject itself to penalties if it breaks the law just like anyone else.”

The MFS must report back to the court and the UFU about the steps being taken to fill staffing needs around processing staffing allowances.

Originally published as South Australia’s MFS fireys win ‘hundreds of thousands’ after travel allowance blunder