$4.4m in back pay: UTS joins list of universities short-changing staff

More than 2,777 employees were underpaid over seven years with some individual shortfalls exceeding $200,000.

The FWO is forcing the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to back pay staff more than $4.4 million in underpayments plus an additional $1.3 million in superannuation and interest.

The action comes as the FWO focuses on systemic non-compliance among tertiary education institutions over staff entitlements.

UTS is just the latest to be caught out after the regulator acted against non-compliance at the University of Newcastle and Charles Sturt University, which were forced to back pay staff $6.2 million and $3.2 million respectively, while the University of Melbourne faced court over more than $150,000 in underpayments.

The ombudsman began investigating UTS after the educator reported its non-compliance to the in May 2021 when it became aware of underpayments while conducting an internal review.

Investigators found individual underpayments ranged from less than one dollar to more than $209,000, with the average underpayment of $1,590.

UTS has entered an enforceable undertaking to back pay 2,777 current and former employees who were short-changed between September 2014 and May 2021.

The FWO said as part of the agreement UTS had already paid back more than $3.5 million of the entitlements plus more than $1 million in superannuation and interest, with the undertaking requiring the university to pay the remaining amounts by 31 July.

The affected personnel were employed as casual professional staff who performed duties across the university’s seven faculties and were primarily located at its main campus in the Sydney CBD.

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said an enforceable undertaking was the appropriate action because UTS had self-reported the breach, had cooperated with the investigation, and demonstrated a commitment to rectifying underpayments.

“UTS has committed to implement stringent measures across multiple years to rectify its non-compliance issues and ensure workers are paid correctly,” said Ms Parker.

“The underpayments by UTS are the latest warning to all universities, and employers generally, that if you don’t prioritise workplace compliance and apply all entitlements, you risk underpaying staff on a large scale and facing enforcement action.”

As part of the enforceable undertaking, UTS committed to conducting a university-wide review with FWO oversight to ensure all staff at the institution could be confident they were being paid what they were owed.