Remediation payments to Health NZ's former employees begin
More than a thousand former employees of Health New Zealand Taranaki have received their remediation payments totalling $4.7 million, marking the agency's first repayments to its former staff.
Health NZ announced last week that it had repaid 1,029 former employees of Health NZ Taranaki or the former Taranaki District Health Board.
"Making this first payment to our former employees is a significant step forward," said Chief Financial Officer Bevan McKenzie in a statement.
Around 2,200 former Taranaki employees are still owed, according to Health NZ, which urged them to make sure their registration is complete through the national portal.
"Their payments will then be scheduled at a later date," McKenzie said.
Health NZ's remediation payments
The payments are part of Health New Zealand's remediation project, which seeks to repay 90,000 current and 130,000 former employees of Health NZ who were incorrectly paid because of Holidays Act compliance issues.
Overall remediation has reached a total of $654.4 million to current and former staff so far, according to the agency.
The Taranaki repayments are the first ones carried out for former Health NZ employees, with remediation for former Auckland, Counties Manukau, and Waitematā employees targeted for November.
Meanwhile, current employees on 21 payrolls have received their repayments, taking the completion rate to 90%. Health NZ said it aims to finish repayments to current staff in Midcentral, Lakes, and Whanganui early next year.
