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One of Queensland’s biggest universities has given nearly $2 million in payments to staff it underpaid, with some employees owed nearly $80,000, in a nationwide push to resolve wage issues across the sector.
The Fair Work Ombudsman confirmed on Tuesday the Queensland University of Technology had completed more than $1.9 million in payments, including interest and superannuation, to 433 staff it underpaid.
The Queensland University of Technology first became aware it had underpaid hundreds of staff in 2019. Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt
Payments to affected individual employees ranged from less than $10 to more than $78,000, including superannuation and interest.
QUT, which has five faculties including campuses in Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove in Brisbane, first became aware it was underpaying staff in 2019.
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It self-reported subsequent compliance audits to Fair Work in 2021.
The ombudsman said most of the underpayments were the result of the university failing to pay overtime, time off in lieu of overtime, meal allowances and casual loading, with professional services staff such as administration officers and research assistants most affected.
Such errors were the result of poor governance processes and “fundamental payroll errors”, the ombudsman said, adding that QUT had entered into an enforceable undertaking (EU) with Fair Work and agreed to undertake a comprehensive external review (CER) to identify any further underpayment issues.
It was also required to make a contrition payment of $250,000 to not-for-profit Cleaning Accountability Framework, an organisation that helped ensure fair working conditions for cleaners.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said the university deserved credit for acknowledging its breaches and underlying issues and had committed to put corrective measures in place.
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“That will ensure both full remediation of impacted staff and improved compliance for the future,” Booth said.
In 2022, Fair Work announced a push to address “systematic non-compliance” in the university sector amid widespread claims of wage theft.
It has since entered into EUs with eight Australian universities, including Griffith University, the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne.
Analysis by the NTEU last year found more than 97,000 university staff had suffered a collective $159 million in wage theft across 32 institutions, with most underpayments occurring after 2014.
Booth said QUT’s EU would “help drive cultural change across the university”, including educating staff on their entitlements under current enterprise agreements.
“Important progress has been made nationally, and we look forward to continuing to work with leadership teams at universities to assist them to do the sustained, smart work required to ensure employees benefit from full workplace laws compliance,” she said.
The $1.9 million paid by QUT so far included wages and entitlements exceeding $1.748 million, interest of more than $143,000, and superannuation (and interest on superannuation) of more than $24,000.
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