Australia¡¯s oldest university has become the latest to sign a binding commitment with the workplace watchdog, agreeing to make good more than A$23 million (?11.6 million) of underpayments and accept a A$500,000 fine.

The ¡°enforceable undertaking¡± with the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) also requires the University of Sydney to train managers about employee entitlements and to make workplace law obligations a ¡°standing agenda item¡± in governing body meetings.

Fair work ombudsman Anna Booth said the university had acknowledged its ¡°governance failures and breaches¡± and taken corrective measures to compensate staff and improve future compliance.

She said the university¡¯s efforts would improve information-sharing between employees and the leadership, ¡°boosting worker voice¡± to help resolve any future underpayment issues.

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The FWO said Sydney had so far calculated that it owed more than A$19 million in wages and entitlements to around 14,700 current and former employees, for work performed between early 2014 and mid-2022, along with?more than A$4 million in interest and superannuation.

Sydney said it had told the regulator about its ¡°risk of non-compliance¡± with its payment obligations back in 2020. It had already repaid around A$20.5 million to more than 11,700 staff after reviewing more than 2.5 million payslips, and was hunting for additional underpayments through a manual analysis of casual academics¡¯ work records across 13 semesters.

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The university has also set aside more than A$70 million to cover ¡°potential underpayment liabilities¡± based on ¡°extrapolated assumptions while investigations are completed¡±, it said.

Provost Annamarie Jagose apologised for the ¡°deeply regrettable¡± underpayments. ¡°It¡¯s imperative we pay our people correctly for the valuable work they do. It is central to our values of trust and accountability, and we are committed to getting this right.¡±

She said administrators were ¡°advancing a large programme of work¡± to ensure staff were paid appropriately, proper records were kept and newly identified underpayments were remediated in full.

The University of Melbourne?recently signed?a similar undertaking committing it to complete a massive A$72 million repayment programme. The University of Technology Sydney, the University of Newcastle and Charles Sturt University have also entered enforceable undertakings with the FWO.

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john.ross@timeshighereducation.com