A 999 centre operator who has yet to receive his COVID Recognition Payment has said that he is considering taking legal action.
Brian Murphy and his wife both worked in the control room during the pandemic. Mrs Murphy is employed by the HSE and received her bonus in August. Mr Murphy is employed by agency CPL and has yet to receive his €1,000 lump sum.
In correspondence seen by the Irish Mirror, Mr Murphy asked the agency in April when he would receive the payment.
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He was told: “Any eligible applications have been submitted and are under review with KOSI Corporation Ltd. on behalf of the HSE.
“At present, we do not have a definitive timeframe, as soon as we have any update as to when payments will be made we will be in touch with all eligible applicants.”
On June 12, he was told by the agency that it would “be in contact in the coming days with updates”. However, Mr Murphy has yet to receive a payment.
“I filled the form in back in January and they said that we paid within a few weeks,” he explained. “Labour's Duncan Smith asked [Health Minister] Stephen Donnelly about this in the Dáil in February and he said it would all be paid in the next couple of weeks.
“That was four months ago. I'm still waiting for it. It is getting to the point of it being ridiculous now. I'm even thinking about taking legal action. “How can it take so long?
“I was working there for the whole of the pandemic. I am so frustrated over it. People don't seem to care. If they cared, it would have been paid out back in February at the latest. That is the annoying part for me.
“The part that hurts more is the fact that everyone in the HSE has been paid. But the non-HSE contractors have yet to get it. It’s like the HSE [workers] are the most important and everyone else is just like a bit of cr*p on the end of someone’s boot.”
The Irish Mirror contacted CPL for comment on Monday morning.
Labour’s health spokesperson Mr Smith said that it was “outrageous that the Minister hasn’t got on top of paying the pandemic bonus to those who earned it”.
“It must be particularly galling for people in this position who know that their colleagues have received it while theirs is still outstanding,” he said.
“The Department forked out huge monies to process these payments, how are workers still falling through the cracks? It's no way to treat those who protected us all during the pandemic.
“The Minister needs to provide a statement to the House on how many people are still awaiting this payment.”
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