University apologises for payroll errors that led to thousands of underpaid staff
The University of Wollongong (UOW) is repaying $6.6 million to 5,340 employees whom it underpaid between 2014 and 2024.
The repayment is part of the Enforceable Undertaking (EU) that the university has entered into with the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO).
The EU also requires the university to make a contrition payment of $130,000, according to the FWO. A second contrition payment will also be made after the finalisation of two matters that are still under review.
University's failed payments
The backpay comes after UOW failed to pay employees their minimum engagement period entitlement under the Higher Education Industry – General Staff Award.
Employees were also underpaid their weekend penalty rates, public holiday pay, overtime rates, other leave entitlements, as well as entitlements related to redundancy, severance, and retirement.
The underpaid employees were casual professional staff in a variety of non-teaching roles who were located at the university's main campus.
According to the FWO, the underpayments were a result of the university’s poor governance processes and fundamental payroll system errors. It self-reported its non-compliance to the regulator in 2023.
"The University of Wollongong deserves credit for acknowledging its breaches and the underlying issues, and 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," said Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth in a statement.
In addition to making payments, the EU with the FWO also mandates the university to:
- Provide the FWO with information about the systems and process improvements it is implementing to ensure future compliance
- Ensure relevant staff complete additional training regarding their Fair Work obligations
- Commission two independent audits to check it is meeting all employee entitlements and rectifying any underpayments found
- Maintain an employee payments complaint and review mechanism
- Convene a standing body to provide a regular forum for consultation between the University of Wollongong, its employees and the National Tertiary Education Union on matters of workplace relations compliance
- Prioritise and embed within its Risk, Audit and Compliance Committee the monitoring of compliance with Fair Work instruments
- Inform staff of the EU through intranet and public website notices, all-staff email and written notice to affected employees.
University apologises for errors
The University of Wollongong said that it takes full responsibility for the payroll errors.
"On behalf of the University, I offer a sincere apology to all those affected. We deeply regret the distress and inconvenience caused to our staff by these errors," said UOW Vice-President (Operations) Stephen Phillips in a statement.
"We are committed to fully remedying these underpayments and continue to work proactively to strengthen our systems and processes so that staff can have absolute confidence in the accuracy of their pay now and in the future."
The large majority of employees affected by the underpayments have been paid, according to the university. It is still finding and contacting around 200 former employees who have not yet received their payments.
The university said it is committed to working closely with the FWO and being fully transparent about its progress in addressing the underpayments.
The UOW adds to the growing number of universities in Australia that have admitted to underpaying employees. A new Expert Council was set up earlier this year to look into the rising cases in the tertiary sector.
