Border Force

Border Force officers have been told to repay thousands of dollars of overpaid leave within weeks or potentially face debt collectors.

An email seen by Crikey, sent to approximately 2000 employees across Border Force’s various agencies, sets out incorrect crediting of leave across the last two years due to a software glitch.

The email also offers the affected employee options by which the overpayments can be repaid. There is no option for the employee to negotiate the repayment on their own terms — an employee can only choose whether it is deducted from their future accrual of annual leave, or from their salary on the following terms: 

Employees who have been overpaid: 

  • $100 or less have to fully repay within a fortnight;
  • $100 – $300 must be repaid within two fortnightly repayments;
  • $300 – $1000 must be repaid within three fortnightly repayments;
  • $1000 – $3000 must be repaid within six fortnightly repayments; and
  • $3000 – $5000 must be repaid within eight fortnightly repayments

 

Anyone owing more than $5000 is in the hands of a delegate appointed by the Finance Department, who will determine how the amount is to be repaid. The email continuous ominously that “the Department reserves its right to pursue recovery of the debt through other available legal avenues. Where affected employees do not provide advice on their preferred repayment option the Department will create a debt for the monetary value of the over accrued annual leave.  This debt will then be recovered through the Department’s debt recovery management processes.”

When approached by Crikey, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection did not rule out the use of debt collectors.

“The department has identified that due to a systems error approximately 2000 employees were provided with additional leave. In most cases the additional leave paid was between one and five days,” a spokesperson said.

“The department has written to impacted staff and is working with each individual employee on arrangements to pay back this additional leave.”

The email to affected staff states “significant analysis and audit has been undertaken on the over-accrual of annual leave, and we confirm all other leave balances are correct”. It gives the recipient seven calendar days to dispute the matter.

The Community and Public Sector Union has also gotten involved. An email from the CPSU has been sent out to members, advising those affected to immediately dispute the amount — it provides a template for them to send — and await further advice. 

Normally an employer cannot recoup an overpayment from an employee directly from their wages, unless they have the affected employee’s written permission. However, the Fair Work Act allows deductions in the following cases:

  • the employee agrees in writing and it’s principally for their benefit;
  • it’s allowed by a law, a court order, or by the Fair Work Commission; or 
  • it’s allowed under the employee’s award or registered agreement.

In the case of public servants, the law allows the government to recoup costs under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule. Section 11 requires that a non-corporate Commonwealth entity pursue any debt owed to the Commonwealth.

The agreement covering border force employees states:

“Where an employee has been provided with payment and/or entitlements to which the employee was not entitled (including salary, leave, travel payment and/or other amount payable under this Agreement), which effectively represents an overpayment, a debt will be considered to be created to the Commonwealth.” 

There is a long history of discontent among employees at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection — as Crikey reported in May, morale was rock bottom, with the workforce having gone three years without a pay rise, and last year, overwhelming voted down pay offer after pay offer from the government, leading to compulsory arbitration from the Fair Work Commission. 

UPDATE: The Department has since contacted Crikey to clarify: The Department does not use the services of debt collectors to recover overpayment relating to staff debt.