Health NZ pay first instalment of Holidays Act shortfall to Waikato staff
More than $39m was paid out to Waikato staff on Friday,
Photo:
Supplied/ Waikato Hospital
More than $39 million in Holidays Act remediation payments were made to Health New Zealand's Waikato staff on Friday - with more payments to come.
Identified in 2016, issues relating to the Holidays Act found former district health boards were not paying staff correctly.
Health New Zealand Te Manawa Taki regional deputy chief executive Cath Cronin said 5531 current Waikato District staff received a payment.
"The remediation payment made today is for the period from 1 May 2010 to 30 June 2022," she said. "The payroll in Waikato is progressively being made compliant and staff in Waikato will receive a second payment later this year from 1 July 2022 up to the date of the second payment."
Cronin said the complexities of the payroll in Waikato meant splitting the total amount over two payments was the best way for HNZ to move forward.
"We have made significant progress in the remediation project with around two-thirds of our current Health New Zealand employees now having received the money they are owed," she said.
The payment today followed similar payments to current HNZ staff in Auckland, Counties Manukau, Waitematā, Taranaki, Wairarapa, https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/557792/nelson-and-marlborough-health-nz-staff-get-20-million-in-holidays-act-remediation-payments Nelson Marlborough], Hutt Valley,
Capital Coast
, Bay of Plenty, Te Tai Tokerau, Hawke's Bay and South Canterbury.
The organisation said more than 75 percent of its payrolls had now been rectified.
"Nationally, we have about 90,000 current employees, plus 130,000 former employees, covered by the Holidays Act remediation project, for the period from 1 May 2010 to the present day," Cronin said.
The payment to Waikato District staff takes the amount paid so far nationally to more than $530.2 million across 71,093 current employees.
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