Over 9000 Uniting Church aged care workers underpaid $3.3 million

Despite underpaying 9561 workers over six years, Uniting won’t be prosecuted or made to make a ‘contrition payment’.

The Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust, a registered charity with annual revenue of $800 million, underpaid workers employed in 70 residential aged care homes in NSW and the ACT between 2013 and 2019. Picture: istock

The Uniting Church has admitted underpaying 9561 aged care workers more than $3.3 million over six years, but will not be prosecuted or made to make a “contrition payment” under an agreement with the Fair Work Ombudsman.

The Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust, a registered charity with annual revenue of $800 million, admitted breaching the Fair Work Act when it underpaid workers employed in 70 residential aged care homes in NSW and the ACT between 2013 and 2019.

Many of the underpaid employees were front line carers and community and disability services workers.

Uniting, set up by the church to provide aged care, disability services, chaplaincy, early learning and community services, self-reported the underpayments to the ombudsman after receiving complaints from a number of its employees.

The underpayments occurred because Uniting failed to pay laundry and uniform allowances to 9300 workers for six years; paid an incorrect lower vehicle allowance to 1300 employees and failed to pay shift workers an extra week of annual leave they were entitled to each year.

Uniting agreed to back-pay 9561 workers a total of $3.36 million, which includes interest.

The enforceable undertaking does not require Uniting to make a contrition payment to the government.

Asked why Uniting was not required to make a payment, a FWO spokesman said on Wednesday: “Each matter turns on its own facts - and the scale and nature of the contraventions for this matter, the level of the co-operation and the fact that this is a registered charity providing important community services on a not-for-profit basis meant that not requiring a contrition payment was appropriate for this matter.”

In a statement, Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said an enforceable undertaking was appropriate as Uniting had co-operated with the investigation.

“Uniting demonstrated a strong commitment to rectifying all underpayments owed to its workers,” she said.

“The enforceable undertaking commits the aged care operator to stringent measures to protect its employees. This includes engaging, at its own cost, an expert auditing firm to conduct an independent assessment of the outcomes of its rectification program and to audit its compliance with workplace laws over the next two years.

“This matter serves as a warning to all organisations that if you don’t prioritise workplace compliance, you risk underpaying staff on a large scale and face not only a massive administrative exercise calculating underpayments but the cost of a significant back-payment bill.”

Under the enforceable undertaking, Uniting must fund an independent organisation to operate a hotline for the next four months to allow employees to make enquiries in relation to their entitlements, underpayments or related employment concerns.

Uniting is also required to display public, workplace and online notices detailing its workplace law breaches and apologise to workers.