Thanks to Psychology members at Goulburn Valley Health raising the alarm, the Union has now recovered just over $85,000 of unpaid Higher Qualifications Allowance for members at Goulburn Valley Health.
How did this happen? Goulburn Valley Health created a procedure based on the Nurses Agreement and then applied this to our members.
The procedure said that workers would not be paid HQA, until after they completed an application form and/or provided evidence.
It also said that workers would not be entitled to backpay. This was wrong. Our Agreement says that if you have a higher qualification, you are entitled to the allowance.
This is a good reminder that policies and procedures cannot change what’s in your Enterprise Agreement – they are your minimum terms and conditions of employment!
Following information in STAT Report, Psychology members contacted the Union and we worked closely together to raise a dispute.
In addition to backpay, Goulburn Valley Health has now agreed to audit all workers in our coverage and has updated the policy and procedure to make sure this never happens again.
Thanks again to all members involved in this dispute. It wasn’t easy, but together we achieved this major outcome!
