CDU forced to backpay $4m after underpaying 800 staff over six years

Charles Darwin University has been directed to back pay more than $4 million in wages. (ABC News: Dane Hirst) Charles Darwin University has entered an enforceable undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman after underpaying 823 staff more than $4 million over six years. It comes months after a bungle that left 400 TAFE students without accreditation, and resulted in the resignation of its former vice-chancellor and TAFE chief executive. The university is currently undertaking a payroll review of another 1,483 staff. Link copiedShareShare articleCharles Darwin University (CDU) has been directed to back pay more than $4 million in wages after it was found to have underpaid more than 800 employees between 2016 and 2022. In a statement yesterday, the Australian Fair Work Ombudsman said CDU entered an enforceable undertaking with the workplace regulator, after self-reporting its non-compliance with Fair Work laws in 2022. The issue affects both current and former academic and professional staff. (ABC News: Dane Hirst) Both CDU and the Ombudsman said the matter affected current and former casual staff working across professional and academic roles. A total of 823 employees from campuses across the Northern Territory were impacted, with a payroll review of 1,423 more employees still underway. Of the 612 payments rectified so far, employees have been back-paid an average of $1,700, with some amounting to as much as $242,000 including superannuation and interest. In a statement, CDU said it expects all payment calculations to be completed in the second half of the year. Staff from campuses across the NT are affected by the underpayments. (ABC News: James Elton) Under the enforceable undertaking, CDU will be required to commission two independent audits of its payroll system to ensure it is complying with Fair Work laws. The university will also be required to maintain an employee complaint and review mechanism. National Tertiary Education Union NT secretary Rajeev Sharma said the union welcomed the undertaking, but argued there should have been more urgency in addressing the matter. The undertaking over back pay comes as CDU works to recover from an administrative bungle that left more than 400 TAFE students unaccredited. Former vice-chancellor Scott Bowman resigned earlier this year on the back of the TAFE accreditation bungle. (ABC News: Pete Garnish) The scandal, which came to light early this year, resulted in the resignation of the university's former vice-chancellor Scott Bowman and TAFE chief executive Michael Hamilton. CDU also subsequently abandoned its plans to develop a campus in London, after investing $2 million in the initiative. Australian Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth commended CDU for working with her office. However, she said underpayment of staff was becoming increasingly common in the Australian university sector. "In 2020 we began alerting universities to our concerns about payments," Ms Booth said. Anna Booth says the underpayment of staff at universities has become increasingly common in Australia. (ABC News: Billy Cooper) "We've been in touch with 42 universities since then and entered into 11 enforceable undertakings. While she did not imply the underpayments were deliberate, she said CDU and other universities had failed to invest in human resources, payroll and time-recording systems. "We found trends of poor governance and management oversight," she said. Ms Booth said the lack of central payroll and complaints systems was a key factor in the underpayments taking place at universities across Australia. Some staff are yet to receive back-pay from the error. (ABC News) "A decentralised payroll system meant that some time-sheets were not processed to accurately record overtime hours worked and the payroll system was not properly configured to ensure employees received their correct entitlements," she said. Mr Sharma said it was imperative CDU learnt from its mistakes, but noted the most pressing matter facing the university's employees was ensuring the current batch of back payments was completed. "There are still a number of CDU staff and NTEU members who have not received the underpayment that CDU owes to them, so that is a concern," he said. Copy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)PromotionTop StoriesInflation eases as fuel prices come down, ASX higherLIVE

CDU forced to backpay $4m after underpaying 800 staff over six years

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