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PPTA to pursue Novopay compensation

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Legal action over Novopay

3News NZ

Steven Joyce

Steven Joyce

By 3 News online staff

The Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA) says it’s launching legal action over the Novopay debacle.

PPTA president Angela Roberts says group legal action is being pursued on behalf of the association’s members, and will seek compensation for the “hurt, humiliation and financial suffering” caused by the payroll system.

“Members’ patience and goodwill has all but run out. Continued Novopay errors mean schools, students, principals and administration staff are at the end of their tether,” says Ms Roberts.

“Almost daily I am receiving reports from branches of the extent of errors that are short-changing thousands of our members and creating untold stress and personal financial instability for many.”

A number of legal options are being considered – but the association’s members are being invited to join the collective that will pursue compensation.

“It is an unusual situation in that traditionally any action would be taken against a school’s board as the employer, but in this case the boards are just as frustrated with Novopay as their staff,” says Ms Roberts.

She says the PPTA is now collecting data and preparing witness statements, and is in discussion with lawyers.

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Comments

3/03/2013 8:31:20 p.m.

katubaldy wrote:

First you tried to blame Labour Carlos and when that went down in flames, you then started in on the victims of Novopay...the teachers....wha? ...When you say "Your all nuts" you mean "you're all nuts" in the mirror and then start your comment bro?...just made more sense reading it that way, is all...? You guys are losing it and have a decreasing credibility problem to tackle...teachers are the problem.... really dude??

3/03/2013 5:15:21 a.m.

Carlos wrote:

Your all nuts. This problem will be resolved, they will get their pay and 15 odd weeks holidays. Teachers are always moaning ? It used to be seen as a vocation...not anymore it seems..tossers !

1/03/2013 9:36:51 a.m.

Wiki wrote:

Well put Katubaldy. Totally agree with your statement. National will always try and put the blame onto Labour or anybody else for that matter, chucking more money at it, is not going make the problems go away any time soon. Taking a package off the shelf and trying to adapt it was never going to work, just like their system upgrade last weekend and the next upgrade, and the next. The 3 stooges as you have pointed out do not see this issue as a high priority and with this legal action pending over their heads lets see who BLINKS NEXT!

28/02/2013 9:12:41 p.m.

Max wrote:

@katubaldy: Very factual and an excellent post. The truth is that the 3 ministers , English, Floss and Parata have erred badly, costing the tax payers millions of dollars. This is an incompetent, and dishonest government. It should resign or else, at least the 3 useless bunglers, English, Floss and Parata should be sacked from the cabinet immediately.

28/02/2013 2:23:17 p.m.

katubaldy wrote:

No Carlos that legless argument was chopped off at the knees by Fix It guy Stevey Joyce.I encountered the same weak as excuse from another blinkered National supporter 'What' and posted this Novopay roadmap."Mr Fix It released the Novopay documents showing that yes Labour ok'd the initial testing and setting up phase of the payroll change back in 08,(you got that part right).But then National and the Novopay board,(ie the Three Stooges,English, Parata and Foss)took over control of the process for the next four years.Then after failing test runs,two delayed starts,(one imposed by Talentless2),a truckload of identified bugs,a 'Not satisfied with the system' letter from the 3 stooges,(which was later retracted when Talentless2 threatened litigation) and a written statement from Parata's 2IC Lesley Longstone,basically saying that the Aussies were out of their depth and cowboys.Amongst all those warning bells,it was National that blinked first and caved into the pressure,(cos they're so business savvy),and went ahead and gave Novopay the greenlight to go live online in August 12.Labour had been out of govt for nigh on 4 years and not at the negotiating table through all of that process? Trying to lay all of the resultant debacle and ongoing fiascos on the previous Labour govt is pathetic and disingenuous.Its a 'dead horse' argument that was debunked by National's own Fix It guy Stevey Joyce.Let me know if that was too much to absorb in one comment cos I can break it down for you into smaller chunks? The govt and its staunchest supporters have blamed Labour, the unions, the struggling manufacturers, beneficiaries' spouses, school staff,(suddenly there was an outbreak of office workers in the education sector who were inputting the payroll data incorrectly?) and anyone else they can through under the bus to save having to take the responsibility for their hopeless blunders.National screwed the pooch.Just repeating right wing talking points is a bit mindless and lying.

28/02/2013 4:41:00 a.m.

Jim wrote:

@Carlos. Hold on, wasn't Novapay put in place last year? When did National become the government again?

27/02/2013 10:00:18 p.m.

Carlos wrote:

Them doing it, will at least safe tax-payers money being spent. Novapay was brought in by the clark/cullen useless labour government.

27/02/2013 10:21:16 a.m.

Wiki wrote:

Thank goodness someone is finally doing something that will show how incompetent Talent2 is and how the government shows that this issue is a low priority. Will legal action solve the problem? Will Steven Joyce, Hekia Parata and John Key finally wake up and see that people's lives are being affected? Probably not, they can say "sorry" as much as they like because it's not there livelihood being affected on a daily basis. The government should scrap this incompetent system and send Taent2 packing. There was nothing wrong with the previous system. Will the politicians listen? "Not likely". Will Parata lose her position "Not likely". Time to put the blame where it should lay and that's with those Ministers who signed it off.

27/02/2013 6:30:27 a.m.

katubaldy wrote:

Bout time...Talentless2 and National are in a time warp as far as resolving this ongoing train wreck is concerned. The teachers deserve an expedited solution to the Novopay mess then bill the Aussies when you're done.

26/02/2013 6:47:10 p.m.

iain wrote:

Great and well done, although this must not come out of the coffers of the taxpayer but the guilty and incompetent creators of this mess Talent Screw.

I'm guessing there is money to be made from witholding so many payments to the teachers so be sure to go after those profits too.