Last year, Deakin University advised staff and confessed to the Fair Work Ombudsman that it unintentionally underpaid sessional academic staff by using the wrong rate for marking and was investigating how many were owed how much.
Yesterday Vice-Chancellor Iain Martin reported 440 people were underpaid $2.9m (ex-interest and super) across 2017-24 and the university was working to ensure such things are no more.
“I am disappointed and sorry to be making this announcement today, particularly given my commitment to helping rebuild trust in our universities,” he said. DVC Services Kerrie Parker separately outlined what was being done.
So what happened? The university advises that wrong time allocations for marking were used and that there is a continuing program of education to ensure all supervisors understand the critical role they play in verifying colleagues are correctly paid for all the hours they work.
This is different to the problem in other universities where PhD qualified staff do not receive an agreed higher rate.
But whatever happened should not have – pay is specified in enterprise agreements and while they can be all-but-incomprehensible, managements agree to be bound by the
And in this case, Deakin U knows it, assuring staff of a “continuing program of education to ensure all supervisors understand the critical role they play in verifying colleagues are correctly paid for all the hours they work. Whilst maintaining clear, straightforward systems and processes … it is incumbent on all leaders across Deakin to apply them consistently and without variation.”
Correct response – and indeed the only possible one given years of evidence of universities stuffing up peoples’ pay.