As part of our commitment to provide a working environment that respects and values our staff, the University has undertaken a wage integrity review covering payments made between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2024 (Wage Integrity Review). To ensure that all entitlements under enterprise agreements have been correctly applied, and given the complexity of this issue, we engaged expert legal advice and an external accounting firm to review various entitlements, calculate any amounts owing to impacted employees and to validate the results.

This review identified underpayments affecting a small proportion of casual professional and casual academic staff. The discrepancies, while not widespread, primarily arose from differing interpretations of enterprise agreement clauses or data entry errors.

The University is taking immediate steps to rectify these underpayments.

Remediation and next steps:

• The University has contacted the affected current casual professional and casual academic staff entitled to remediation payments;
• back-payments, including interest and superannuation, will be made to affected current staff from pay period ending 16 May 2025;
• impacted former employees will be contacted shortly regarding payment and to confirm banking and superannuation details;
• engagement with the Fair Work Ombudsman and NTEU will continue; and
• systems and process improvements have been implemented with an enhanced focus on governance and compliance.

Further information and support

Please visit our FAQ’s page for further information.

We are taking steps to contact all affected staff. If you believe you may have been underpaid and have not been contacted by the University by the end of May, please contact the University’s dedicated Wage Integrity contact: wageintegrity@usc.edu.au.