X
Business

Qld Health SAP woes lead to cash advances

Queensland Health Minister Paul Lucas has said his department is working on ways to avoid staff pay bungles after introducing a new payroll system, including cash advances.
Written by Suzanne Tindal, Contributor and  AAP , Contributor

Queensland Health Minister Paul Lucas has said his department is working on ways to avoid staff pay bungles after introducing a new payroll system, including cash advances.

Thousands of Queensland Health's 74,000 employees have had their pay significantly delayed over the last two pay cycles after a payroll system blamed for making overpayments to Queensland Health staff was replaced by a new $40 million version of the pay system.

IBM has previously described the SAP-based payroll system it has been implementing for Queensland Health as the most complicated it had ever seen in Australia.

Lucas told parliament on Tuesday that a number of preventative strategies are being used to reduce the risk of problems with the next pay cycle, due 21 April.

Cash advances of up to $200 will be available to employees in the event their pay is delayed again, he said.

In addition, casual staff with regular work patterns have already entered their time sheets into the pay system and manual checks are also taking place, he said.

"It should not have happened and I take the issue very seriously," Lucas told parliament.

"I reiterate my apology and I know it has caused inconvenience and hardship for a number of our hard-working employees.

"The fact that the vast majority received their pay without problems means little to those very many individuals and families who have been seriously affected by their mistakes."

Editorial standards