‘Unfortunate and very regrettable’: 838 University of Adelaide staff revealed to have been underpaid $1.25m
The University of Adelaide has admitted underpaying 838 casual staff $1.25m after an audit.
Hundreds of staff at the University of Adelaide have been underpaid a total of about $1.25m, it has been revealed following an audit of the institution.
The university came clean on Friday about the underpayments to about 838 current and former casual staff between March 2017 and May 2025.
The staff members, of which about 60 per cent no longer work at the university, were underpaid about $1500 each on average.
A University of Adelaide spokesman told The Advertiser it “deeply regrets that the underpayments occurred”.
The university had picked up the error as the institution had increased its auditing activities and monitoring of payments “in response to the prevalence of underpayments in the sector”.
The audits found current and former casual academic staff who either held a relevant PhD qualification and those nominated as a course co-ordinator were not paid higher rates they were entitled to under the current enterprise agreement or other relevant pay deals.
“The university is remediating impacted current and former casual staff,” the spokesman said.
He reiterated that it was “a historical matter that relates to the University of Adelaide”.
The spokesman said while the underpayments represent less than .05 per cent of salary payments over that eight year period, “it is still unfortunate and very regrettable”.
The university’s auditing process is continuing and the spokesman said “if any other instances of underpayments are identified, affected staff will be contacted by the university”.
The Fair Work Ombudsman confirmed to The Advertiser they were investigating the University of Adelaide after it self-reported the underpayments.
A spokeswoman for the Fair Work Ombudsman said she expected “any employers that identify noncompliance to fully co-operate with out investigations”.
The announcement by the university was not a surprise for National Tertiary Education Union SA secretary Dr Andrew Miller, who said the body was prompting them to conduct an audit for almost two years.
“They’ve finally taken our prompts seriously,” Dr Miller said.
“We welcome this but they could have done it sooner.”
He described the underpayment of staff “alarming and shocking and inexcusable” and saw it as an opportunity for the institution to “reform”.
“We see this as an opportunity for the University of Adelaide to live up to its own rhetoric,” Dr Miller said.
“Universities across the country are routinely engaging in wage theft”.
It comes as the University of Adelaide is nearing the completion of its merger with UniSA.
The new institution, Adelaide University, will open in January next year.
In September, The Advertiser revealed the new university’s vice chancellor, Professor Nicola Phillips would be paid a nearly $1m salary package, less than the male leaders of the merging institutions.
University of Adelaide vice-chancellor Professor Peter Hoj, earned about $1.3m last year, up 24 per cent from 2023 when he was paid just above $1m.
Originally published as ‘Unfortunate and very regrettable’: 838 University of Adelaide staff revealed to have been underpaid $1.25m
