The row over Gauteng Emergency Medical Services (EMS) staff contracts and overtime is unresolved, with 21 people being charged and facing disciplinary action, reports The Citizen.
The dispute is linked to 160-hour monthly contracts and unpaid overtime.
The personnel, from the Selby, Hillbrow, and Mofolo bases, have refused to work beyond their contracted 160 hours a month without extra pay, saying their 12-hour shift roster of four days on and four days off have resulted in an additional 20 to 25 hours of work each month.
They said they had fulfilled their contractual obligations after completing 160 hours, and that when the department was told that overtime needed to be paid after 160 hours, or personnel would knock off, the dispute escalated.
DA Gauteng Health spokesperson Madeleine Hicklin said that the dispute needed urgent attention. She said Circular 5 of 2024 provides for a 40-hour working week, equivalent to 160 hours a month, and that additional hours should be agreed upon between the employer and employee.
“If the department requires EMS personnel to work extra hours, it must properly record and compensate those hours,” she added.
The policy says that “overtime hours must be pre-arranged and agreed to in writing with the Line Manager”, and that “an employee may not be forced to work overtime without his/her written consent”.
It says managers may expect extra hours only in exceptional circumstances, such as emergencies. This must not be because of factors like staff turnover.
The Gauteng Department of Health disputed claims that any employees had been suspended. Health Department spokesperson Steve Mabona said 21 staff had been issued with charge sheets for dereliction of duty after failing to complete scheduled working hours in line with their contracts and shift rosters.
He said EMS was an essential service, and they were required to adhere to approved rosters, while overtime and working-hour arrangements were managed in accordance with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
Mabona said the department had measures in place to ensure EMS operations continued without interruption and was reviewing its working-hours policy.
Ongoing problem
Staff say the unpaid overtime issue has been ongoing for years. One said he had emailed senior officials in late 2024 to warn them he was no longer willing to work longer than the stipulated hours. He alleged nobody replied to his emails at the time.
He was then suspended from late June until early August, his letter – seen by The Citizen – claiming he had failed to complete a rostered shift and had neglected his duty to respond to emergency calls.
A later letter lifted the suspension, but added that it must not be taken as the matter being finalised.
Other staff said they faced different charges: one for gross misconduct, others for gross insubordination.
The department denies threatening anyone with dismissal. But its own memos, seen by The Citizen, warn of it. The 2 June letter to Hillbrow staff said leaving a shift without written approval could lead to “up to and including summary dismissal”.
The 9 June “final ultimatum” said the same, adding that expedited hearings were possible, “which may result in dismissal”.
In a joint letter to management, the workers had said they would keep working ordinary hours, that they were not on strike, and were open to paid overtime.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Gauteng EMS staff in overtime dispute
EMS shortages at saturation point