University of Western Australia forced to back pay staff more than $10m in super payments

A top ranking Australian university has been hit with a huge financial blow after it was discovered staff had been underpaid super entitlements since 2013. The University of Western Australia is now working to reimburse current and former staff $10.6m in super payments, including $4m in interest. The payments covered a period from 1 July 2013 until now, and affected 5500 former and 2700 current employees. A statement from the university confirmed it would try to contact all affected employees to apologise and advise that it had commenced a program of back payments. The discrepancy was discovered during a review of superannuation entitlements by the university which identified shortfalls in the application of the 17 per cent super contribution on some allowances and leave entitlements. The University reported the matter to the Fair Work Ombudsman and will now review its payroll and administration processes to ensure its employees receive their correct entitlements and payments. As part of an ongoing Employee Entitlement Remediation Program throughout 2024, the university will also assess and remediate identified discrepancies in long service leave and casual payments. UWA’s vice-chancellor professor Amit Chakma apologised to the affected employees, assuring them of prompt payment, including interest where applicable. “I deeply regret this has occurred and offer my apologies to those affected,” he said. “It was due to differing interpretation of legislative changes and inconsistent understanding of Enterprise Agreement obligations. “I assure you that discrepancies were unintentional and the university has acted in accordance with what was understood to be our obligations.”