Victorian universities underpaid $75m in wages a NTEU report reveals

Some of the state’s leading universities were forced to pay millions of dollars in unpaid wages, following a spate of historic wage theft claims. See the institutions that had to pay up.

Swinburne university is one of seven Victorian universities that owed staff money following wage theft allegations.

More than 47,000 staff from Victorian tertiary institutions were collectively underpaid more than $75m across a 12-year period, a damning report into university wage theft has revealed.

An analysis conducted by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) found some of the state’s top universities are among 32 institutions nationally who failed to pay wages and entitlements between 2009 and this year.

Victoria’s higher education sector owed the most to its employees compared to the rest of the country, with the total amount making up almost half of the $159m that was indebted to university staff nationwide.

Most debts have either been repaid or are in the process of being paid back, however the total national wage theft figure is likely to grow with at least nine other cases unresolved – four of which are in Victoria.

The University of Melbourne owed staff $45m.

Australia’s leading university, the University of Melbourne, left more than 30,400 of its staff $45 million out of pocket – the highest amount owed nationally.

Incidents happened between 2014 and 2021, with matters including underpaid casual staff and employees not receiving entitlements under enterprise agreements.

About 2250 Monash University staff also claimed they were underpaid at least $10.8m, after they failed to receive pay for fulfilling work outside of tutorial times.

RMIT also saw similar figures with 3700 staff paid back $10m, while 4401 La Trobe University employees were owed over $5.44m.

Swinburne University, the Academy of Interactive Technology (AIT) and Federation University were other Victorian universities who owed staff money after they were found to have underpaid them a collective figure of more than $5.96m.

The most common areas where employees were underpaid include position misclassifications – where teaching staff were paid as teachers and not academic teachers, overtime and superannuation.

NTEU national president Alison Barnes said wage theft at universities is a “symptom” of insecure work that affects staff and the community.

“We know of people unable to pay their rent or feed their kids because of it,” she said.

“(But it also) imperils Australia’s future research such as our capacity to cure cancer or deal with environmental change.”

Dr Barnes added the lack of action taken by university leaders to combat wage theft at universities was “galling”, particularly given it’s been a long-term issue.

“I just wonder what is going on with governance in Victorian universities that gives rise to such appalling wage theft,” she said.

La Trobe University owed staff $5.44m.

The Herald Sun contacted the seven Victorian universities that appear on the NTEU’s November Wage Theft report for comment – most of which reassured that staff were paid what they were owed.

A La Trobe University spokesperson said the institution has addressed the underlying issues that led to the unintentional underpayments, while a spokesperson for Swinburne added it is “committed to maintaining robust systems and processes to ensure compliance”.

Meanwhile a University of Melbourne spokesperson said the “payments have already been processed by the university and are a matter of public record”.

A spokesperson for Federation University Australia said it was not aware of the incidents raised by the union.

“We take these matters very seriously and ask staff who have evidence of underpayment to immediately contact our People and Culture team,” they said.

“We regularly review our payroll records and activities to ensure any errors are identified and addressed and respond quickly to any concerns staff raise directly.”