Reimbursement for Payroll Irregularity

Published 25 September 2019

The University of New England has identified an irregularity in some payroll payments to some casual professional staff between September 2014 and March 2019.

‘Casual professional staff’ are staff brought into the University to assist with peaks in workload or specific projects – typically they are administrative or technical staff.

The irregularity relates to a clause in the 2014 Collective Agreement which provided for a minimum engagement period of 3 hours for casual professional staff. However, it would appear that those working less than 3 hours were paid only for the time they worked and not the full 3 hour block. The irregularity impacts on about 10% of timesheet entries for the period.

The irregularity has been rectified and payments, including backdated interest, will be made to the affected casual professional staff by the end of October.

On average this amounts to around $970 plus interest for each affected person. No other staff outside some casual professional staff are affected.

UNE has established a helpline (02 6773 2755) for questions and has initiated a proactive process to capture updated contact, bank and superannuation details for those no longer working at the University.

The University is committed to ensuring that all employees receive their full entitlements and as such we are working with an independent auditor to verify the payment calculations.

“Our staff are our greatest asset and UNE is committed to transparency and integrity in its payroll system,” said Vice Chancellor Brigid Heywood.

“I apologise to our casual professional staff for any inconvenience that this matter has caused, and assure all staff that we have embarked on a process of audit and new technologies to ensure there is never again an oversight such as this,” said Vice Chancellor Brigid Heywood.

This matter has no impact on any other staff at the University including having no relevance to the Academic and English Language Teacher Collective Agreement 2014-2017. No other staff outside some casual professional staff are affected.

More information can be found at Casual Payments.