Over a thousand current and former employees were underpaid over 11 years
The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is back-paying more than $21.4 million in wages and entitlements to over 10,000 employees who were underpaid for more than a decade.
The payments cover wages and entitlements exceeding $14.7 million, interest of more than $3.8 million, as well as superannuation (and interest on superannuation) of more than $2.8 million, according to the Fair Work Ombudsman.
The payments are being made to a total of 10,443 current and former employees of the university who were underpaid between March 2014 and July 2025.
The majority of the underpaid employees were casual professional and academic staff who were located across UTAS campuses in Hobart, Launceston, Burnie, and Sydney, along with a number of the smaller campus locations.
The payments are part of the university's Enforceable Undertaking with the FWO, which also requires it to make a contrition payment of $175,000 and implement a range of measures to ensure compliance with workplace laws.
Factors behind underpayments
The FWO cited UTAS's poor governance processes and fundamental payroll system deficiencies as reasons behind the widespread underpayments.
On its website, UTAS said it identified the payroll errors after a self-initiated review amid ongoing underpayment issues in other Australian universities.
"We looked as far back as 2014. We did identify issues," it said on its website.
"Therefore, we prioritised accurate calculations and remediation payments for all current and former staff who were affected."
The university said the first phase of its repayments started in April 2023, with more than 2,500 current staff and over 5,550 former employees receiving their payments.
"Affected former staff who we could not locate after extensive searches have been referred to the Ombudsman to be followed up so every effort can be made to ensure people get their pay," it said.
The second phase of the initiative, which began in July 2023, is still underway, according to the university.
"To date, further payments have been made to 1,928 current and former employees," it said.
Underpayments in universities
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth acknowledged the university's corrective efforts to fully remediate employees and ensure future compliance.
But she noted that the matter also serves as a "warning" that neglecting checks and balances can result in long-running problems for employers.
"We expect universities to meet their legal obligations under their own enterprise agreements," Booth said in a statement.
The University of Tasmania adds to the growing number of universities that are admitting to underpaying employees due to poor processes and payroll errors.
Recently, Monash University and Queensland University of Technology also signed Enforceable Undertakings to address underpayments in their systems.
