University Underpayments Exceed $278 Million: A Sector Under Scrutiny

Australia’s university sector is facing mounting criticism after revelations that more than 110,000 staff members have been underpaid, with the total amount owed now believed to exceed AUD 278 million. The scale of the issue has raised serious questions about governance, compliance, and accountability within higher education institutions.

A Decade of Wage Failures

The University of Wollongong has become one of the most high-profile cases, forced to repay AUD 6.6 million to staff underpaid between 2014 and 2024. Investigations revealed widespread errors in payroll systems, affecting casual academics and professional staff across multiple faculties.

Similar cases have emerged across the sector, with underpayments identified at universities in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. What was once thought to be isolated errors now appears to be systemic across the industry.

What Went Wrong?

The underpayments have stemmed from a combination of factors, including:

• Missed penalty rates for evening, weekend, or public holiday work.

• Failure to apply minimum shift lengths, leaving casuals paid for fewer hours than required.

• Incorrect overtime calculations, particularly for teaching and marking workloads.

• Complex enterprise agreements that many payroll systems were unable — or unwilling — to implement correctly.

For casual academics, who make up a significant share of teaching staff, these errors meant years of lost income. Many report working unpaid hours to prepare lectures, mark assignments, or provide student support.

Impact on Staff

The revelations have been demoralising for a workforce already under pressure from funding cuts, rising workloads, and uncertain career prospects. For early-career academics, many of whom rely heavily on casual contracts, underpayment has had long-term financial consequences, exacerbating issues like insecure housing and financial stress.

Unions have described the scale of underpayment as “wage theft on a national scale,” demanding stronger enforcement and penalties for institutions found guilty of breaching workplace laws.

Calls for Reform

The federal government and the Fair Work Ombudsman are now under pressure to tighten oversight of universities. Proposed reforms include:

• Stricter auditing requirements for university payroll systems.

• Heavier penalties for wage underpayment, including potential criminal liability for senior executives in severe cases.

• Standardised contracts and timekeeping, to reduce the complexity that has enabled errors.

Looking Ahead

While repayments have begun, many staff remain sceptical that universities will change without stronger regulation. Critics argue that systemic underpayment is not simply a payroll issue but reflects a deeper cultural problem in higher education, where cost-cutting has often been prioritised over fair treatment of staff.

With hundreds of millions in unpaid wages and more cases emerging, Australia’s universities are under unprecedented scrutiny. For the staff who have carried the burden of underpayment for years, the push now is not just for repayment, but for genuine reform.