The University of NSW signs Enforceable Undertaking

The University of NSW (UNSW) will complete more than $32 million in rectification payments, including interest and superannuation, to over 33,000 underpaid staff as part of entering into an Enforceable Undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman.

UNSW has already rectified the large majority of underpayments identified, with the University committed to rectifying any further underpayments found as part of an ongoing review.

Under the Enforceable Undertaking, UNSW must make a contrition payment of $500,000 to Commonwealth Consolidated Revenue.

UNSW must also implement a broad range of measures to ensure compliance with workplace laws going forward.

Under the Enforceable Undertaking, UNSW has admitted to underpaying staff entitlements under UNSW enterprise agreements between 2014 and 2023, and to breaching record-keeping and pay slip requirements.

Many of the underpaid staff were casual academic staff. UNSW failed to pay them the correct rates for activities including lectures, tutorials, demonstrations, course co-ordination meetings, exam supervision, marking and more.

UNSW also underpaid some professional staff (such as laboratory assistants; administrative, stores and research staff; technical officers; library staff; and staff at UNSW Canberra). Entitlements underpaid to professional staff included minimum wage rates, overtime rates, allowances, shift loadings and long service leave entitlements.

The underpaid employees were located across UNSW’s campuses in Sydney, Canberra and regional NSW, including Albury, Coffs Harbour, Griffith, Port Macquarie and Wagga Wagga.

The Fair Work Ombudsman first put UNSW on notice to address various non-compliance issues in 2018 after the FWO received a request for assistance from a casual academic in the UNSW Business School alleging underpayments. UNSW subsequently conducted a review, which identified widespread underpayments.

UNSW self-reported the underpayments to FWO in 2020, which prompted the FWO to begin its investigation. FWO found that UNSW’s record-keeping failures were so extensive that they hindered the investigation into the underpayments.

In response to the record-keeping issues, the FWO commenced legal action for record-keeping breaches between 2017 and 2022 relating to 63 casual academic employees, and secured a $213,120 penalty in court against UNSW in December 2025.

UNSW’s total back-payments, detailed in the Undertaking, will be $32,710,122 to a total of 33,069 current and former employees.

It is made up of underpaid wages and entitlements exceeding $23 million, interest on top of this of more than $4.9 million, and superannuation (and interest on superannuation) of more than $4.1 million. The large majority has already been paid.

Key causes of the widespread underpayments were the University’s record-keeping failures, as well as poor governance processes and payroll system deficiencies.

Back-payments to impacted individual employees range from less than $1 to more than $398,000, including superannuation and interest.

Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said that while UNSW had initially taken a poor approach towards addressing its record-keeping failures, it had demonstrated a strong commitment to rectifying its underpayment issues.

“UNSW deserves credit for committing significant time and resources to put in place corrective measures that will ensure both full remediation of impacted staff and improved compliance for the future,” Ms Booth said.

“Improving workplace compliance in the universities sector has been an extended priority for the Fair Work Ombudsman. Our preference is for universities to engage openly with us about any compliance failures and for us to work with them to correct their problems.

“We’ve made important progress nationally, including through Enforceable Undertakings like this, and we look forward to continuing to work with the leadership teams at universities nationally to assist them to do the sustained, smart work required to ensure their employees benefit from full compliance with workplace laws.”

In addition to the underpayment rectifications and contrition payment, the Enforceable Undertaking commits UNSW to implementing a range of measures to ensure future compliance, including:

• commissioning, at its own cost, up to two compliance audits to check it is meeting all employee entitlements – and rectifying any underpayments found;
• ensuring relevant staff complete educational programs and mandatory training regarding engagement of casual and professional employees;
• reporting bi-monthly to the FWO on the progress of its ongoing compliance reviews until completion;
• maintaining an Employee Advocate Platform via established communication channels to receive employee payment claims;
• developing processes within its Remuneration and People Committee for monitoring compliance with workplace laws;
• establishing a Joint Consultative Committee to regularly meet with UNSW employees and/or unions to discuss compliance issues;
• providing the FWO with information about the systems and process improvements it is implementing to ensure future compliance; and
• informing its staff of the Enforceable Undertaking via its intranet and through all-staff emails or written notices.

Since announcing in 2022 that addressing systemic non-compliance in the university sector was a priority, the Fair Work Ombudsman has entered into Enforceable Undertakings with 12 other universities, being Charles Darwin University, Monash University, La Trobe University, University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, the University of Technology Sydney, the University of Newcastle and Charles Sturt University, Griffith University, the University of Wollongong, Queensland University of Technology and the University of Tasmania.

The FWO has also secured court penalties against the University of Melbourne.

Employers and employees can call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 or visit www.fairwork.gov.au for free advice and assistance. An interpreter service is available on 13 14 50. Workers can also seek information from their employer or their union if they are a member. Employers can seek information from their employer association if they are a member.