Michaela Meade
La Trobe University will back pay thousands of employees more than $3.5 million following a campaign by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU).
A statement on the university’s website said an analysis of casual staff payments between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2021, identified a number of staff who were “inadvertently underpaid” due to inefficient systems and processes.
“We are very disappointed by these findings and sincerely apologise to all affected staff,” the statement said.
“Our casual staff are highly valued members of the La Trobe community.
“Although underpayments were unintentional, we deeply regret that this has occurred.”
NTEU La Trobe branch president Alysia Rex: “After almost 18 months of lobbying and advocacy on behalf of our members, the La Trobe Branch of the NTEU is glad to see that the university is taking the first steps to ensuring that wage theft ceases at La Trobe.
“There is still much work to do in ensuring that La Trobe appropriately compensates staff … and that the practices that lead to this situation never occur again.”
The university’s statement said payments to underpaid staff would occur in stages.
“Our first priority now is to pay all identified current casual staff who have been underpaid up until the end of June, and this will happen by 31 December 2021,” the statement said.
“The university is also contacting casual staff from the last six years who no longer work for La Trobe and who may have been paid incorrectly.
“A second payment will be made in March 2022.
“This will cover any identified underpayments for the remainder of 2021.
“It will also cover further amounts owed for marking, a detailed assessment of which is being currently undertaken.”
The university said payment systems and processes were being simplified and automated to “ensure accurate payments” and “avoid any future errors”, and that it would continue to review and monitor this on a regular basis.
