Timing of review of education payroll unit beggar’s belief

The Public Service Association is stunned that the Ministry of Education has released a review aimed at scaling down its payroll services unit in the midst of the Novopay debacle.

The Ministry has put out a restructuring proposal to staff in its Education Payroll Services Unit which will see the number of positions reduced from 23 to 14. It claims the staff will not be needed once Novopay is operating smoothly.

“The timing of this beggar’s belief,” says PSA National Secretary Brenda Pilott.

“Everyone knows that the Novopay system has been a debacle and with the magnitude of the problems, who knows when it will be properly up and running.”

“The staff in the payroll unit have been putting in long, stressful hours working alongside Novopay trying to pick up the pieces. In the face of all this they’re now being told they’re facing a major restructure and a proposal which will see jobs being disestablished from March next year.”

Staff have only been given a two week consultation period to respond to the proposal.

Brenda Pilott says while payroll staff knew that a review was likely at some stage, they have been completely blind-sided by the insensitivity of the timing.

“They feel that their focus on trying to sort out Novopay, especially in the lead-up to the Christmas pay period, will compromise their ability to take part in the review process.”

“The Ministry needs to acknowledge the context of this review and delay it,” she says.

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