Five Glasgow Life managers who were fired following a probe into overtime payments at Tollcross International Swimming Centre are to challenge the decision at an employment tribunal.

The Evening Times revealed last week that the council’s arm’s-length management organisation dismissed them amid claims that the centre paid out 33% more overtime hours than at other local authority sports facilities.

A representative of the workers has insisted that responsibility for the policy on overtime payments was above their pay grade and all five intend to launch a legal challenge.

It has been claimed that they were encouraged to put in long hours as the centre underwent a £14million refurbishment ahead of last year’s Commonwealth Games.

A spokesman for the staff said: “There was pressure put on managers in relation to the Games and it was decided to man the centre to the maximum in order to provide the best Games they could.

“The overspend at Tollcross was excessive, however it was decided a duty officer would be with every Commonwealth party doing tours of any works at Tollcross in order to make sure that they were well informed.

“It was also decided that an assistant cluster manager would be on shift at all times. Tollcross had an extremely busy schedule, only rivalled by the Emirates Arena. This hasn’t been taken into account.

“What they have done is effectively stopped the buck at the managers of the centre, yet they have allowed an overspend to happen. Now they are holding people responsible who are several pay grades below and who have no fiscal responsibility. It reeks. ”

The managers claim that the 33% overspend should have been offset by a process known as “recharging” - when Glasgow Life bills a client for staffing costs.

But the sacked managers allege the Glasgow Life investigation failed to take the recharges into account.

Their spokesman said: “As part of the set up, when an event is priced at Tollcross, they work out how much additional staffing it’s going to need, including management.

“What they then do is recharge that to the event. Something that wasn’t taken into account by the investigation into the overspend was the recharges.

“So, the 33% would have been dramatically reduced had they looked at the recharges.”

A key plank of the legal challenge is expected to be the personnel chosen by Glasgow Life to carry out the internal probe.

The sacked managers claim the senior manager who carried out the investigation was not independent because they had overall responsibility for overtime payments.

A spokesman for the sacked managers said: “The appeals have happened and, although it was acknowledged at that stage that the investigator had a conflict of interest, it was deemed that they had been transparent.

“They have tried to cover their back from a tribunal point of view, however, the paperwork has been submitted and it will go to a tribunal. All five will go individually.

“They have been made scapegoats. These people with years of experience have been sacked and their pensions jeopardised– people with families, houses, cars – so that Glasgow Life can find a way out of this overspend.”

Two other members of staff are still under investigation in connection with overtime payments but the Evening Times understands they are currently on sick leave.

The leader of the opposition at Glasgow City Council, SNP councillor Susan Aitken, said: “These allegations are concerning and suggest that there were issues with the way the investigation was conducted.

“A wider investigation must now be carried out into Glasgow Life to ensure that practices like this are not occurring elsewhere.

“There must be a clear policy in place that is fully understood by all staff and managers so that we don’t have a repeat of this unfortunate situation.

“My colleague, Councillor David McDonald, who is on the Glasgow Life board, will follow this up within the organisation.”

A spokesman for Glasgow Life, said: “We take our obligations regarding the proper use of public funds very seriously.

“After a detailed and thorough investigation, a number of staff were subject to our disciplinary procedures and dismissed.

“As procedures regarding other staff members remain ongoing, it would be wholly inappropriate to comment further.”