Murdoch University has paid almost $5 million in backpay to current and former staff after a decade-long review uncovered errors in the way some employees’ wages and entitlements were calculated.
The Western Australian university’s payroll remediation programme has examined payments dating back to 2015, with hundreds of workers affected across several categories of employment.
Issues identified included incorrect classification and missed salary-step increases for professional casual employees, as well as errors involving casual academic payments, public holiday penalties, minimum engagement periods and work at the university’s Murdoch Active gym.
Murdoch said it began a wide-ranging review of payroll and leave entitlements in 2019, before establishing a dedicated remediation programme in 2022. The university has been contacting affected current and former employees directly about the sums owed to them.
Murdoch University payroll review remains under way
The Office of the Auditor General of Western Australia reported that Murdoch made remediation payments to 900 current and former employees in 2023 after reviewing professional casual classifications, incremental pay increases and entitlements for staff at Murdoch Active.
Its audit found that a further $3 million remained to be paid as of 31 December 2023, although the university’s latest figure takes total repayments under the programme to nearly $5 million.
Murdoch has disclosed the findings to the Fair Work Ombudsman, the National Tertiary Education Union and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency.
The university said it had changed its systems and procedures to reduce the risk of similar errors occurring again. It has also elected to pay interest on remediated wages, calculated in line with the Federal Court pre-judgment rate.
The review has not yet concluded. Murdoch said it was assessing possible long-service-leave entitlements for casual academics, with further work expected to continue into 2026.
