Wage remediation program
The University of Melbourne places the highest importance on paying all employees properly and in accordance with its legal obligations.
The University has undertaken an extensive program of work to remediate staff entitlements under its 2013, 2018 and 2024 enterprise agreements and to strengthen its systems and processes.
The University has apologised to past and current employees who have not been paid correctly for work they performed.
If you believe you may have been paid less than you were due for work you performed, we encourage you to please call the University’s dedicated wage enquiries team on 1800 571 187 or email cm-wageclaims@unimelb.edu.au.
Background
The University makes every effort to comply with all obligations to staff, including under the relevant enterprise agreements, and ensuring everyone is paid correctly for work they perform.
The University has been making payments since 2021 in respect of practices that did not accord with our enterprise agreement during a period from 2014 to 2025.
In addition, the University commissioned a comprehensive review of how current and past employees have been paid for work performed under the 2013, 2018 and 2024 Enterprise Agreements. This review also covered all faculties and Chancellery.
The University engaged external providers to help apply the additional resources required to prioritise this program and take an independent view of the situation.
As work concludes on this review, the secure portal and claim coordination provided by our partner Deloitte has ceased and includes a thorough data cleansing process that will involve all information that has been collected through the portal being securely and permanently removed. Any residual activities in engaging with employees will transfer to the Universities dedicated wage enquiries team.
Preventing future occurrences
We have strengthened the University’s governance structures, systems and processes.
Some steps we've taken include:
- implementing a range of system and payroll improvements to ensure ongoing compliance;
- additional compulsory training for staff and managers;
- implementing changes to our systems and processes for recording and payment of time and attendance;
- the implementation of a new payroll system (ERP);
- Centralised governance and oversight of employment compliance with additional resources to support leaders, supervisors and casual staff understand their obligations and entitlements; and
- Ongoing auditing of the new payroll system to ensure people are being paid correctly.
Notifying affected people
If you were due to receive a back payment, you will have received an email from our external provider, Deloitte, who assisted us with this work. The email will have come from unimelbreview@deloitte.com.au. If our attempts were not successful or if we have no email address for you, we will have tried other means of communication, such as text message or mail as part of a reasonable endeavours process. If these attempts were also unsuccessful, the monies owed to you will become unclaimed monies notified to the Australian Taxation Office who may advise us of more recent and up to date contact details, otherwise the unclaimed monies will be remitted to the State Revenue Office.
Contact
If you have any concerns or believe you may have been paid less than you were due for work you performed, please call the University’s dedicated wage enquiries team on 1800 571 187 or email cm-wageclaims@unimelb.edu.au.
Privacy
Your confidentiality, privacy and personal information are of utmost importance to us and we are committed to ensuring that they are appropriately protected.
Personal information provided to the University via the contact line or email will be used to assess the individual’s back-pay claim. Further information about how the University generally collects and processes personal information can be found in our Staff Privacy Statement.