University of Newcastle says it has repaid staff 95 per cent of the almost $8 million in miscalculated wages, super and interest found in a payroll review.
The Newcastle Herald reported on Tuesday that the university had signed an enforceable undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman to repay the money.
A university spokesperson said on Tuesday that the bulk of the money had been repaid last year.
The university self-reported the underpayment of $64,000 in wages in February 2020 after inquiries by Conservatorium of Music casual staff.
A review by accounting firm PwC found 7595 current and former staff had been underpaid $6.269 million between 2014 and 2020.
One staff member was underpaid $65,449.
The university failed to pay correct overtime and penalty rates, underpaid meal allowances and failed to provide minimum engagement hours owed to casuals.
The review also identified $171,000 in outstanding superannuation payments and $1.375 million in interest owed to the staff.
The affected staff worked at all the university's main campuses and across various faculties, schools and business units.
The underpaid UON employees, including professionals, academics and teachers, were engaged mainly as casuals, but some were full-time and part-time staff.
The Fair Work Ombudsman's office said on Monday that the university had signed an agreement to repay the money by October 31 and establish better systems and training to avoid repeating the error.
Charles Sturt University also entered into an agreement with the ombudsman to repay $3.2 million.
The University of Newcastle undertaking says the missing wages were likely the result of deficiencies in its payroll systems; the complexity of the applicable enterprise agreements and interactions between overtime, allowances and penalty rates; and incorrect application of clauses in the enterprise agreements.
The university admitted it had breached the Fair Work Act by underpaying staff and failing to "keep actual start and finish times for overtime for each affected employee".
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said both universities had taken the initiative to self-report non-compliance and committed to full backpayments.
"University of Newcastle and Charles Sturt University have shown a clear commitment to acknowledging and fixing the various errors that existed in their systems and practices, and which they should have picked up," she said.
Ms Parker said her office had found "systemic underpayment" in universities and launched 11 specific investigations and a Federal Court case against the University of Melbourne.
"We expect to be taking further enforcement action against other institutions."
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