Pay compliance and remediation

The University has engaged in an external review of our payroll compliance. The review found some instances of staff underpayments, mostly in relation to casual staff.

The discrepancies have not been widespread or systematic but primarily caused by differing interpretation of our Enterprise Agreement or data entry errors.

UniSQ has commenced the implementation of a range of system, process and control improvements to ensure it provides a compliant pay environment and that these issues don’t occur in the future.

UniSQ has not yet quantified the total remediation payments to employees or identified the individuals affected, which will form the next step in the process.

Current and past employees who have been affected will be contacted directly where a back payment is to be made as an outcome of this review. Anyone receiving a back payment will first receive an email from People Portfolio from PayrollEnquiries@usq.edu.au. If you believe you may have been paid less than you were due for work you performed, we also encourage you to register your details and circumstances by emailing PayrollEnquiries@usq.edu.au.  

Putting things right will take time and a great deal of work which has already commenced and is continuing as a matter of priority. The University is working through a remediation program and aims to pay individuals affected in the latter part of 2023 inclusive of any back-pay owed from 1 January 2015 onwards, in addition to superannuation and interest.

If you are a past employee, you can request that the University updates your bank account details by emailing PayrollEnquiries@usq.edu.au. Current employees should use HR Self Service.

No. The University will not request employees to repay overpayments made to any individual.

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 payment amount and 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 tax returns. More information about lump sum payments in arrears is available on the ATO website.