Domino effect in Novopay debacle

22 November 2012
Immediate Release

Domino effect in Novopay debacle

NZEI Te Riu Roa remains unconvinced that the problems with the Novopay payroll system for school staff will be ironed out before the next payroll period and it is becoming apparent that the problems are having effects way beyond schools and their staff salaries.

Problems have surfaced with payments to third parties taken directly from salaries such as to IRD for child support, student loans and payments to Kiwisaver and other superannuation providers.

NZEI president Ian Leckie says he, himself, has experienced problems with his salary.

“I have been underpaid in two pay cycles and this still has not been resolved and my superannuation payments ceased with the introduction of Novopay and have still to be reinstated.”

NZEI National Secretary Paul Goulter says it is apparent that there had been a woeful lack of preparation for the roll-out of Novopay.

“There are a lot of end-of-year holiday payments in this round due for payment next week and as Christmas looms and shut-down periods for many institutions beyond schools are imminent, we are heading into a quagmire which will come at huge personal cost,” Paul Goulter says.

Mr Goulter says that NZEI support staff members who work in both primary and secondary schools on payroll were vindicated by comments made by Talent2 (the company which administers Novopay).

In Radio New Zealand’s Checkpoint yesterday, Talent2 chief executive John Rawlinson said that schools staff were not able to get the benefit of the training in ‘’sector readiness’’ and it was “compounded by mistakes early in the payroll that lifted the level of frustration and anxiety in using the new system.”

Mr Rawlinson said it may take another year for payroll staff to be “comfortable with it.”

“Our members have worked tirelessly to get the problems sorted. They are hard-working and committed and this just shows the Novopay system was not user-friendly, too complex and not trialled properly,” Mr Goulter says.

ENDS

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