University of Melbourne to pay out $22m in lost wages to casuals
The University of Melbourne is returning $22m to 15,000 casual staff after admitting widespread underpayment for work performed.
The University of Melbourne has begun returning $22m in lost wages to 15,000 casual staff after a new investigation revealed widespread underpayment over the past eight years.
Announcing the repayments on Wednesday, vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell apologised to “past and present employees who have not been paid correctly for work they performed”.
Professor Maskell’s new admission of $22m owed to casual staff is additional to $9.5m that was previously repaid to casual academics at the university for lost wages.
The National Tertiary Education Union labelled the high level of unpaid casual work at the university as “wage theft”, which could only be resolved if casual employment at the university was dramatically reduced.
“This is why in our current negotiations for a new enterprise agreement we are demanding the workforce be at least 80 per cent employed in ongoing roles,” said David Gonzalez, the NTEU branch secretary at the University of Melbourne.
“It is fully in the power of vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell to come to the bargaining table and correct this problem.”
According to the university’s 2021 annual report, only 57 per cent of its employees (measured on a full-time equivalent basis) are ongoing, with the remainder being casual or on fixed term contracts.
The university said in the annual report that it would review its workforce planning during 2022 to reduce reliance on casual staff “recognising that workforce structures which rely heavily on casual employment are neither desirable nor sustainable”.
NTEU national president Alison Barnes responded to the latest revelation of underpayment saying that “systemic wage theft is baked into universities’ business models”. She said “wage theft” should be a federal crime and called for a broad inquiry into university governance.
“The NTEU will continue to vigorously pursue wage theft in universities and ensuring our members are paid every cent they’re owed,” Dr Barnes said.
Professor Maskell said the university was committed to fully complying with its obligations.
“We remain committed to strengthening the university’s governance structures, systems and processes and this continues to be an area of focus for our institution,” he said.
In August, the University of Melbourne was taken to the Federal Court by the Fair Work Ombudsman, which alleged the university took adverse action against two casual academics to stop them claiming for work they were required to perform beyond contracted hours.
The case is listed for mediation in December.
The university’s decision to repay $22m to casual staff follows an analysis by Deloitte of 3.2 million pay slips of current and former employees.
The university said the most common issues revealed were incorrect payment for the casual minimum engagement period and incorrect payment for weekend and public holiday overtime. Underpayments affected both academic and non-academic casual staff.
The university said it would ignore any overpayments that had been made to casuals, and not seek their return.
Mr Gonzalez said the union was still in dispute with the university over payment to some casual academics for marking assessments, which could lead to yet more repayment of lost wages.
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