Payment remediation FAQs
Issues
What are the two issues identified?
Following a Fair Work Ombudsman inquiry in relation to one casual staff member, the University conducted investigations which led to the discovery of two separate issues affecting staff payments.
This review identified two issues that resulted in some staff not being paid their full entitlements, including unprocessed casual timesheets and on-call allowances.
The University has voluntarily self-reported these findings to the Fair Work Ombudsman, and will maintain contact with the Ombudsman as we remedy these issues.
Unprocessed casual timesheets
The University’s system requires casual professional and casual sessional academic staff to manually enter timesheets in the online staff portal to claim hours/units worked. After submission of a timesheet by a staff member, it is routed to their supervisor for review and action.
If hours/units are submitted but not actioned and approved, the hours/units are not automatically included in payroll for processing. The error occurred because the timesheets were only visible to supervisors for a period of two weeks. After this time, timesheets were no longer visible and consequently could not be actioned by supervisors.
The University has taken immediate steps to rectify this system error.
Emergency and on-call availability allowances
The University’s investigation also identified a secondary issue regarding on-call availability allowances, affecting a smaller number of staff. Staff who responded to emergency requests may not have received their correct allowance. Additionally, we are investigating inconsistencies in the payment of on-call allowances, particularly regarding overtime eligibility for staff required to work outside regular hours.
We have identified up to 130 staff who may be affected by this secondary issue regarding allowances.
The University is taking this matter seriously and thoroughly investigating to ensure all remediation payments are made as soon as possible.
What is the impact regarding the unprocessed casual timesheets?
As of 25 July 2024, ANU has identified 2290 current and former staff members who have been affected by the unprocessed casual timesheet issue.
Staff members affected | Total value | Median value |
2290 | Approximately $2.0M | $599.17 |
These figures are estimates based on salary only. Does not include superannuation or interest.
The University's actions
What is ANU doing to fix these issues?
The University has taken immediate and comprehensive steps to remediate missed payments to affected staff.
Unprocessed casual timesheets
Affected staff identified from the 2023/2024 financial year have already received remuneration. On 4 July 2024, 226 staff with timesheets totaling $261,000 were reimbursed.
The University is working to pay all other impacted staff their outstanding payments as soon as possible. We anticipate this process will take 10-12 weeks to ensure a thorough review, calculation and processing of the appropriate remediation payments.
Both current and former staff identified will be contacted directly by ANU.
The University has also taken proactive steps to review and enhance our timesheet processes to prevent any unactioned timesheets from being accidently overlooked.
On call availability allowance
The University is taking this matter seriously and is committed to thoroughly investigating it to ensure all remediation payments are made if owed. Identified staff affected by this error will be contacted.
Additional measures
In addition, we have engaged KPMG to undertake a robust review and to assist in calculating appropriate remediation payments for remaining impacted staff members (including superannuation entitlements and interest payments).
This will take time, but we want to assure you that we are committed to resolving this as quickly as possible. If there are any other affected staff, they will be identified during this review and appropriately remunerated.
Will ANU reimburse affected staff and former staff?
Yes. Immediate remediation has begun. All staff identified will be paid in line with the employment arrangements applicable at the time, including superannuation, and with interest.
Will this have implications for tax and superannuation?
Yes. Tax will be applicable to payments made to staff as per Australian Taxation Office (ATO) requirements. Superannuation will be paid on amounts owed in line with the employment arrangements applicable at the time.
How will ANU ensure this doesn’t happen again?
The University has taken proactive steps to review and enhance our timesheet processes to prevent any unactioned timesheets from being accidently overlooked.
The University is also exploring longer term system solutions to assist with timesheet submission and approval workflows.
A review of the application of the Availability Allowances across the University is being undertaken. Guidelines will be developed and distributed to support the consistent application of this provision throughout the University.
How far back does the issue with casual timesheets go?
The University implemented an online timesheet system in 2013. Prior to this, timesheets were submitted via hard copy forms. Our investigation covers the 11 years that online timesheets have been used at ANU.
At this point, there is no indication of an impact to staff prior to 2013.
Affected staff
I think I may be affected but haven’t been contacted. What do I do?
The University is proactively contacting staff who have been identified as affected by these issues.
If you think you may have been affected by these issues and have not yet been contacted by ANU, please complete our enquiry form and the University will look into the matter as a priority. Please allow up to 24 hours to be contacted by ANU before using this form.
The form is available to current and former ANU employees.
The personal information gathered in this form will be used for the purpose of identifying you and reviewing your claim. Once the information is collected and verified, outstanding payments will be made.
The University will continue to update the FAQs as required.
