A whole lot of NSW Rural Hearth Service workers together with frontline staff could possibly be owed tens of millions of {dollars} in unpaid wages if a looming industrial relations case earlier than the Supreme Courtroom this yr is profitable.
The Public Service Affiliation (PSA) will use 5 workers who’re all allegedly owed 1000’s of {dollars} in extra time every as proxies to check the declare in court docket. If profitable, the union estimates there could possibly be 500 to 700 different workers with related claims, leaving the RFS with as much as $4.1 million in unpaid extra time.
The NSW RFS crew from Kundle stood their floor in opposition to a hearth sweeping in the direction of them and houses at Hillville in the course of the Black Summer season bushfires in 2019.Credit score: Nick Moir
Obtained by the Herald, the 38-page assertion of declare lodged with the Supreme Courtroom on December 20 claims the RFS workers weren’t paid extra time loading charges regardless of being authorised to work each exterior regular work hours and on weekends, in breach of the RFS Award and the Situations Award.
The 5 events to the case declare to be owed a collective $26,938.09. In a single declare, an on-call affected worker attended a structural fireplace for 4½ hours, but didn’t obtain any extra time cost.
The case centres on a dispute over whether or not workers must be given time in lieu for weekends and extra time labored, reasonably than being paid for these hours; and whether or not a weekend and weekday are like-for-like exchanges beneath the award.
The RFS has 1240 paid workers, in line with its annual report, along with the company’s estimated 70,000 volunteers.
PSA common secretary Stewart Little mentioned the quantity of unpaid wages alleged was disappointing, saying frontline staff shouldn’t have to sue the RFS to make sure they obtained extra time funds.
Stewart Little from the Public Service Affiliation.Credit score: Michael Quelch
“They’re not the one emergency companies company. This isn’t taking place at Hearth and Rescue NSW, the SES [State Emergency Services], the police or another company,” he informed this masthead.
