Source : Perth Now news
An Aussie university has been hit with a staggering $32m bill after underpaying staff members for almost a decade.
The University of NSW has been ordered to backpay more than 33,000 workers who were underpaid between 2014 and 2023 after entering into an enforceable undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman.
The FWO ruled that UNSW had failed to pay staff the correct rates for academic tasks including lectures, tutorials and exam supervision as well as not meeting minimum wage rates for non-academic workers.
The organisation was first put on notice by the FWO in 2018 after a request for assistant for a casual academic in its business school.
Two years later, the university self-reported the underpayments, sparking an investigation.
This has since found that 33,069 current and former employees were affected, with underpaid wages and entitlements exceeding $23m.
Taking into account interest and superannuation, it has resulted in an undertaking of $32,710,122.
FWO Anna Booth said the university had taken a poor approach to addressing record-keeping failures but had demonstrated “strong commitment” to putting it right.
“UNSW deserves credit for committing significant time and resources to put in place corrective measures that will ensure both full remediation of impacted staff and improved compliance for the future,” she said.
UNSW president and vice-chancellor Attila Brungs AO said the undertaking was an “important milestone” in correcting the mistakes.
“We apologise unreservedly to every current and former staff member who was affected by these underpayments,” he said.
“While we cannot change what occurred, we have worked hard to understand why it happened, forensically identify historical incidents and continue to repay what is owed.
“Signing this undertaking is an important milestone but is not the end of our work. We remain committed to getting this right.”
Since the underpayments were first exposed, the university has expanded its review to include all cohorts, made several repayments and set up a confidential advocacy scheme to support affected staff.
It comes after the FWO entered similar agreements with a dozen other universities, including Charles Darwin, Monash and The University of Sydney.
