In an all-staff email this morning, Deakin University has admitted to underpaying staff across two faculties.
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has estimated that the accrued underpayment could total over $10 million, with some individuals being underpaid more than $45,000.
The university has attributed the “primary issue” as being “the misapplication of marking formulas used to calculate the pay of sessional academic staff.”
This comes after continued denial from the university as to staff underpayments. In a press release, NTEU Victorian Division Secretary Sarah Roberts said:
“This humiliating admission is a huge win for brave NTEU members at Deakin who have been on a two-year journey to expose this shocking conduct.”
The NTEU had alleged systemic underpayments at the university in June 2022, where they lodged a dispute with the university before referring it to the Fair Work Commission in November 2022.
Deakin University has since reported itself to the Fair Work Ombudsman, however, only pertaining to underpayments in two faculties out of the four where evidence was provided.
“Unfortunately, Deakin has only fessed up to stealing wages in two schools, but we won’t rest until this entire systematic scandal is fully exposed and every cent owed repaid,” Roberts said.
This news comes only days after the University of Queensland admitted to almost $8 million in underpayments, with other universities also self-reporting to the Fair Work Ombudsman this year.
Amidst the patterns of wage theft in the sector, NTEU National President Dr Alison Barnes referred to the issue as a “spiralling wage theft epidemic,” requiring “urgent action from state and federal governments.”
“Unaccountable vice-chancellors and their senior executives are making a mockery of education ministers who clearly said universities should be exemplary employers,” she said.
Jack Kirne, former sessional academic in the School of Communication and Creative Arts (SCCA) faculty, and senior state organiser for the NTEU told Honi that the university has not provided staff with information on how they are planning to rectify the underpayment at this stage.
He noted that it is “unambiguous” that the piece rate, attributed as the cause of the underpayment by the university, has been applied in several faculties, not just the two faculties that were self-reported to the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Honi contacted Deakin University for comment, who referred us to their published statement, which states that “former and current sessional academic staff identified as potentially impacted will be contacted by Deakin in due course.”
