Monash University caught up in $7.6m underpayment scandal

Monash University has admitted to underpaying staff another $7.6m, with the tertiary union accusing it of “wage theft” and calling for a federal parliamentary inquiry into the governance of unis.

Monash University has admitted to short-changing staff $7.6m in a fresh wage underpayments scandal for the respected Melbourne institution and wider tertiary sector.

The confession from Monash was labelled “wage theft” by the National Tertiary Education Union which has demanded an independent investigation into the governance at Monash, alongside a federal parliamentary inquiry into the “governance crisis” at universities across Australia.

“This admission brings Monash Uni’s total wage theft bill to $17.6m since 2016,” NTEU Monash branch president Dr Ben Eltham said.

“These are wages and superannuation unlawfully withheld from hardworking teachers. Monash’s executive and governing board have broken the law and stolen from their own staff.

“We urgently need a thorough and independent investigation into governance at Monash Uni.”

Monash announced the preliminary results of its ongoing ‘quality assurance reviews’ into casual academic staff payments. Picture: Chris Eastman

The latest revelation of underpayments came as Monash announced the preliminary results of its ongoing “quality assurance reviews” into casual academic staff payments.

More than 3.4 million timesheets have so far been analysed as part of the review, with 3.6 per cent identified as “requiring remediation”.

Some casual academic staff were paid incorrectly, either in relation to the minimum engagement period they were entitled to be paid for, or because they were paid at a “repeat” rate for a lecture or tutorial when they should have been paid at the higher “original” rate.

The review is expected to be finalised in 2025, with Monash expecting the amount of underpayment to be about $7.6m — or $760 per casual academic staff member over an almost five year period.

Monash University apologised for its latest underpayments. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

Acting vice-chancellor Professor Susan Elliott said the underpayments were “unintentional and deeply regrettable”.

“We are finalising this review work in early 2025 and will be communicating in March 2025 with all current and former staff who have been identified as being underpaid,” she said.

“Impacted staff will receive a remediation payment plus interest and superannuation in March 2025.

“We are also making further changes to ensure the identified issues do not occur in the future.”

Professor Elliott said the university would implement an improved scheduling, time and attendance system to better manage the “complexities of our Industrial Agreements and related legislation”.

NTEU national president Dr Alison Barnes said it was “disgusting” that university staff were continually being ripped off by their employers.

“There’s no greater proof that the university governance system in Australia is broken beyond repair than the $400m wage theft shame in our sector,” she said.

“Vice-chancellors earning more than $1m a year are never underpaid yet more than 140,000 staff who are mostly insecurely employed have been.

“We need an urgent federal parliamentary inquiry into the rotten governance in universities that has fuelled a wage theft epidemic, rampant casualisation and obscene executive pay.”