A review into the underpayment of some University of Tasmania (UTAS) staff, which has determined the institution owes more than $11 million, is dragging into 2023 — while it spends more than $130 million on a new facility despite a majority vote against it.
Key points:
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UTAS says it is working to pay all impacted staff “in full, with interest”
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The UTAS is meanwhile spruiking preparation for a relocation of the College of Business and Economics and Law School
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The Tertiary Education Union is accusing the university of focusing on the relocation rather than paying staff
The university apologised in February last year after announcing it would review thousands of payments, becoming one of a string of tertiary institutions found to have incorrectly paid staff.
In the latest notice to potentially affected staff, UTAS said it anticipated it would begin making payments in April.
“Allowing for employee on-costs and interest, the total amount is approximately $11 million,” the notice read.
“This amount will increase as we complete work for the years 2014-2015, which is the period before the current payroll system was installed.”
It said external firms had identified two main factors contributing to the issue: not paying people enough for minimum-engagement periods, and some cases of penalty rates not being correctly applied.
“These problems have arisen because of historically inconsistent practice across the institution and varying interpretations of our complex staff agreements,” it…
