Nurses face €20,000 pay-back over salary blunder

Eoin English

The Irish Nurses’ Organisation (INO) fears the bureaucratic error is being replicated in other health boards and warned the final figure could run into millions. It has cases in the SHB region where amounts overpaid to individual nurses over some years range from €3,000 to over €20,000.

The mistake has “upset and distressed” affected members, said Michael Dineen, the INO’s industrial relations officer in Cork and Kerry.

“I would usually see one or two cases of overpayment every year. But six or seven cases across Cork and Kerry have come to my attention in the last few weeks,” he said. The SHB is Munster’s largest employer, with more than 16,000 people on the payroll.

As a result, an error may occur on occasions with staff payment, a SHB spokesperson said.

“Where money may need to be recouped from a staff member, the board is very conscious that each case is looked at sympathetically.”

Mr Dineen admitted overpayments are more likely in the nursing sector because of the number of grades and the range of work patterns.

“But, I’m concerned the situation could recur elsewhere in the system,” he said.

A new payroll system, Personnel, Payroll and Related Systems (PPARS), is being introduced by health boards nationally to standardise systems.

“This new electronic personnel system will link directly to our pay records,” the SHB spokesperson said. “It will be more efficient and will ensure the most up-to-date information is held on file.”

Mr Dineen suggested PPARS had helped bring the cases of overpayment to light.

“I don’t know of anyone who knowingly accepted the overpayments,” he said. “It was going on for years and with nurses’ changing work patterns, and with job sharing, their salaries would vary month-to-month anyway.

“I admit the potential is there for mistakes, but I am concerned about the impact this mistake is having on INO members.

“I understand that it’s public money that has to be repaid, but this issue must be revisited,” he said.

The SHB has been sympathetic in its approach to affected nurses, said Mr Dineen said. “But it’s not fair that nurses are being penalised. People entered into financial commitments based on their bottom line and now that bottom line has changed.”

He called for greater leniency when it comes to negotiating the repayments, for tighter health board accounting practices, and for a simplification of health board payroll slips. “You’d need a degree in accounting to work out some of the pay slips,” he said. Under the Payment of Wages Act, 1991, employers are not entitled to make deductions from wages or receive payment from their workers unless they are required by law (PAYE), unless it’s provided for in their contract (pension contribution), or without the written consent of the employee.

Mr Dineen said INO members should be aware of this, if they have been overpaid.