Australian Catholic University underpaid casual academics by $3.6m

The Australian Catholic University has apologised for underpaying casual academics by $3.6m over seven years.

Australian Catholic University vice-chancellor Zlatko Skrbis.

The Australian Catholic University said it had underpaid over 1,000 casual academics by $3.6m over the past seven years and will repay them with interest.

ACU vice-chancellor Zlatko Skrbis apologised to the affected academics saying they deserved to be paid correctly for their work.

“ACU is committed to wage integrity, in accordance not only with our legal obligations but also with our dedication to upholding the principles of Catholic social teaching,” Professor Skrbis said.

“Our mission as a Catholic university commits us to treat every human person with dignity and respect.”

The underpayments were mainly the result of sessional teachers not being paid the higher rates they were owed if they had PhD qualifications or were performing co-ordination or management duties.

ACU’s admission is the latest episode in a flood of underpayments to staff by universities which has been revealed by extensive audits.

“There’s barely a university in Australia which hasn’t been caught out stealing workers’ wages,” said National Tertiary Education Union national president Alison Barnes.

She said over 100,000 university workers had been affected by the “wage theft” which she blamed on the “aggressive casualisation” of university staff.

The NTEU branch president at ACU, Leah Kaufmann, said the union was disappointed it was not consulted about the underpayments before the university’s announcement given that ACU became aware of the issue in late 2022.

But she said the union welcomed the university’s commitment to pay sessional workers at the highest rate until they were confident that their systems were paying staff correctly.

“Unlike some other universities, ACU management has reported itself, apologised, committed to full back payments within 28 days, and will be providing access to support for staff identified as the victims of underpayment,” Dr Kaufmann said.