News

The Victorian Ambulance Union Incorporated (VAU) has been approached by many members from St John Ambulance regarding various issues with payment of wages. The VAU takes these matters very seriously. Whilst it is understandable that from time to time there will be pay errors, it is reasonable to expect that these errors, once identified, are dealt with in a timely manner.

It is the VAU’s understanding that this has not occurred at St John. As a result, many members are currently being denied their entitlements with no sense of urgency.

Specifically, the issues include:

• Rounding discrepancies such as rounding down recorded shift times to the last quarter hour
• Incorrect leave accruals for leave especially annual leave
• Double deductions of accruals when annual leave has been taken
• No payment of shift penalties and allowances to members who take annual leave
• Incorrect nightshift allowances applied to wages
• Fringe Benefit Tax information not recorded on members annual income statement (for ATO)

The VAU first wrote to St John regarding some of these issues in July. St John acknowledge some concerns had been raised but they understood them all to be resolved and requested further information to the contrary.  Members disputed all issues had been resolved.

Over-payments

Recently St John has contacted its employees to inform them that an over-payment of meal allowances had occurred.

St John have informed staff that they intend to recoup the over-payments in one of three ways:

• Immediate deduction of all excess payments in next pay cycle
• A one-off B-pay payment to correct the discrepancy
• An agreement to repay the full amount, by deduction from pay, e.g. over the next three pay cycles.

VAU Position

The VAU strongly oppose the approach that St John have taken with this matter. On the one hand many members are struggling to get their full wage entitlements, whilst on the other hand St John have applied strong pressure to members to rectify a problem created by St John, and to do so within a prescribed timeframe.

Under Section 324 of the Fair Work Act an employer may only deduct money from your wages in very limited circumstances being:

• if the deduction is in writing,
• is chiefly for the employee’s benefit,
• is authorised by an enterprise agreement, modern award, or a Fair Work Commission order, or is permitted by a Commonwealth, State, or Territory law or court order. 

Deductions that directly or indirectly benefit the employer or are for amounts that vary without a new authorisation, are not permitted. 

This means that St John cannot deduct the money for the overpaid meal allowances without your permission. If you wish to repay the money straight away and in full you can do so. If you need to set up a repayment schedule you can propose one of your choosing. However, the VAU advises members who believe they have been underpaid to email their direct supervisor and CC the payroll department, notifying of a dispute (clause 3.11 of the EA) related to the individual underpayment matter and committing to paying back the overpaid meal allowances when an audit has been completed of any entitlements you believe have been underpaid.

If a member is in any doubt about their position or requires further explanation or support regarding this matter please contact one of the NEPT Organisers using the contact form link at the top of the page, or by emailing memberqueries@vau.org.au.