Charles Darwin University to Repay $4 Million After Underpaying 800 Staff Over Six Years

Charles Darwin University (CDU) has been ordered to pay back more than $4 million in wages to 823 current and former staff members who were underpaid between 2016 and 2022. The university self-reported its non-compliance with Fair Work laws in 2022 and has since entered into an enforceable undertaking with the Australian Fair Work Ombudsman.

The underpayments affected both academic and professional staff across CDU's Northern Territory campuses. While payments for 612 employees have been rectified, averaging $1,700 each, some individuals received as much as $242,000, including superannuation and interest. CDU expects to complete all payment calculations in the latter half of the year. As part of the undertaking, the university must conduct two independent audits of its payroll system to ensure future compliance and maintain an employee complaint mechanism.

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Why has it taken so long? I know it's a resource issue, but this is an important matter and more resources should have been allocated to address this issue sooner rather than later.

Rajeev Sharma, NT secretary for the National Tertiary Education Union, welcomed the undertaking but questioned the delay in addressing the issue, advocating for more resources to be allocated sooner. This back-pay order comes as CDU is still recovering from a separate administrative failure that left over 400 TAFE students without accreditation, an issue that led to the resignation of former vice-chancellor Scott Bowman. The university also abandoned plans for a London campus after investing $2 million.

Australian Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth commended CDU for cooperating but highlighted that staff underpayment is a growing concern across the Australian university sector. "We've been in touch with 42 universities since then and entered into 11 enforceable undertakings," Booth stated, emphasizing that it is a "systemic problem." While she did not suggest the underpayments were deliberate, the pattern indicates a widespread issue within higher education institutions.

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In 2020 we began alerting universities to our concerns about payments. We've been in touch with 42 universities since then and entered into 11 enforceable undertakings. It really is a systemic problem in the university sector.