BY ISABEL EVERTT
A payroll review has revealed staff at the University of Newcastle were underpaid over $6 million dollars over a six year period.
The analysis of 1.7 million payslips between February 25th 2014 to August 6th 2020, identified 7171 individuals who were incorrectly paid.
“As soon as we became aware of problems, we acted and put in place an institution-wide review,” University of Newcastle Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alex Zelinsky said on Wednesday.
“Some staff were overpaid and some staff were underpaid,” he said.
The University assured any current staff with a net underpayment would receive all money owing, plus interest, paid into their regular pay account by Thursday.
“We will not seek repayments from anyone who has a net overpayment,” Professor Zelinsky said.
The University said provisions for remediation costs – approximately $6.29 million – were included in the University’s 2020 financial forecast.
The amount represents around 0.24% of the total payroll costs for the period between Febuary 2014 and August 2020.
The errors related to the way casual staff and supervisors recorded or applied the overtime, span of hours, minimum engagement and meal allowance provisions .
“We have rolled out new training and procedures to make sure staff and supervisors understand the relevant entitlements and processes,” Professor Zelinsky said.
“I apologise for these errors and any concern they have caused. Making sure people are paid correctly is fundamental to our operations.”
“We have proactively addressed this situation and self-reported to the Fair Work Ombudsman. The FWO has also advised it will review our process to ensure we are meeting our obligations.”
The University said former staff members affected would be notified later in November.
