The University is committed to ensuring all our staff receive their full entitlements in accordance with our Enterprise Agreement. As part of this commitment, we continuously review and refine our payroll systems, processes and reporting to uphold the integrity of our remuneration practices.
In line with this approach, we recently identified discrepancies in some professional casual staff payments. As a result, we are committed to promptly remediating these underpayments from the period commencing 1 July 2019.
We have identified instances where overtime penalty rates, minimum shift engagements, and overtime meal allowances were not consistently applied for professional casual staff in accordance with enterprise agreements.
We apologise unreservedly for the error and acknowledge the impact on those who may have been affected by an underpayment.
We are working diligently to ensure that affected current and former staff receive their full entitlements backdated to 1 July 2019. If you have been impacted, we will contact you directly using the records in our payroll system.
Alternatively, if you believe you may have been impacted, but have not received our formal correspondence by the dates advised below, you can Contact Us to confirm if you have been identified as being owed a back-payment.
We are about to review the University's compliance with casual academic entitlements under the Enterprise Agreement. We will update all staff on the outcomes of that process and are committed to remedying any errors as quickly and transparently as possible.
The University has voluntarily notified the Fair Work Ombudsman of the identified underpayment issues. We are working closely with the Ombudsman to ensure these matters are resolved appropriately and promptly.
We have submitted a comprehensive Payroll Remediation Plan, detailing the issues identified, the steps we are taking to rectify them, and the measures being implemented to strengthen the integrity of our remuneration practices going forward.
Such preventative measures include:
We are committed to promptly remediating these underpayments.
If our records indicate that you may have been impacted, we will reach out to you directly in the near future.
If you are a former professional casual staff member and believe you may be impacted, and your contact details have changed since your time at the University, we encourage you to Register with CheckPay. This will allow you to provide your current information so we can reach out to you directly should you be impacted.
-->If you are a professional casual staff member who has an active employment contract with the University, please login to the Staff Portal for further information.
Notification of underpayment
If we identified that you were underpaid an entitlement, an email will be sent to your email address on record via CheckPay@canberra.edu.au in November 2025.
The email will:
If we do not hear back from you, we will continue to
make every effort to contact you via any one of the following:
If a former professional casual staff member cannot be located by 30 April 2026, the University will pay the amount owed to the Commonwealth of Australia in accordance with section 559 of the Fair Work Act. A search on the -->
If you are due a back-payment, you will receive an email from CheckPay@canberra.edu.au. This email will invite you to confirm your details via a Secure Web Form. This form can be accessed directly via the .
If this email is not successful, we will try other means of contact including via post, phone, SMS or social media.
If you believe you have received a message that is a scam, do not respond to it and please advise us via CheckPay@canberra.edu.au or the CheckPay Contact Line on +02 6201 5658
We will contact impacted current and former professional casual staff throughout October and November of 2025 in two cohorts. Impacted current staff will receive an initial email notification in October 2025. Impacted former staff will receive an initial email notification from the University in November 2025.
If the initial contact via email is not successful, we will use other channels to contact you, including via post, SMS, phone or social media using the last details we had on file for you.
If we have identified that you have been underpaid, we will contact you in the first instance. If you are a former casual professional staff member, you are invited to to ensure that we have your correct contact information when we reach out.
If we have identified that you have been underpaid, we will contact you in the first instance. To remedy this underpayment, we may request that you provide us with some details to confirm your identity. Once those details are confirmed, your back-pay will be processed within four (4) weeks.
The University has undertaken a rigorous process and methodology to ensure the careful and accurate calculation of any back-pay owed.
Lump sum back-payments, such as the remediation payments, may be taxed and reported differently to an employee's normal salary and wage income, depending on the period it relates to.
Lump sum payments are included as assessable income in an employee's tax return in the income year in which they receive the payment, which means that employees need not amend previous years' tax returns. The University will also be required to withhold PAYG amounts from the payments. These amounts will be paid to the ATO
Any payments made for back-pay that occurred 12 months prior to payment will be noted as Lump Sum E in your 2026 income statement.
The ATO鈥檚 lump sum payment in arrears tax offset prevents you from being disadvantaged if you receive a lump sum payment in a later income year. Please contact your financial and/or tax advisor if you have any questions or concerns.
More information about lump sum payments in arrears is available on the .
Current Staff 鈥� Overtime underpayment: where it has been identified that a current staff member has been underpaid for overtime worked, you will receive email correspondence from the University on Wednesday 15 October and payment to your nominated bank account will be processed by17 October 2025.
Current Staff 鈥� Minimum Engagement underpayment: where it has been identified that you may have not received your correct minimum engagement entitlements, you will receive email correspondence from the University of Wednesday 15 October requesting your completion of a short . This will assist the University to assess your minimum engagement eligibility and process accurate payments. Once the completed questionnaire has been received, the University will review your questionnaire and confirm with you, if you have been underpaid. We will then process any payment owing within four (4) weeks.
Former Staff 鈥� Overtime underpayment: a former staff member identified as being underpaid will receive email correspondence from the University in November 2025 (where we have your details on record), requesting your completion of a . This is required to enable us to confirm your correct bank and superannuation account details. Once completed, the University will process any payment owing within four (4) weeks.
If we are unable to contact impacted former staff, the University will use other means, including the last details we have on file, which may include correspondence via post, phone or social media.
Former Staff 鈥� Minimum Engagement underpayment: a former staff member identified that they may not have received their correct minimum engagement entitlements will be required to complete the to provide us with their correct personal information, and enable the University to assess minimum engagement eligibility. Once completed, the University will review the information provided to us and confirm with you, if you have been underpaid. We will then process any payment owing within four (4) weeks.
Where a payment is eligible for superannuation, you will receive superannuation with interest as part of your payment and this will be specified in your remittance from the University.
Yes, interest has been added to payments, and a breakdown will be provided to you, so that you can see the amounts that have been applied. We have taken the following approach which is consistent with industry practice when underpayments occur:
Underpayments: The University has applied the Federal Court of Australia pre-judgement interest rate each half year.
Superannuation: The University has applied a simple interest rate of 8% per annum to any owing superannuation payments.
The back-payment will not impact your visa requirements. Specifically as it relates to the minimum engagement 鈥榯op-ups鈥�, because you are entitled to a minimum payment equivalent to 3 hours work, even if you have not been required to work for a period of three hours, the additional payments do not pose an issue for student visa holders as long as the actual hours worked did not exceed the conditions stipulated by the visa.
The work restrictions which apply to student visa holders are as follows:
For all enquiries, please contact us at Checkpay@canberra.edu.au.
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