Australian Catholic University has revealed drastic underpayment of academic staff going back years.
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More than $3.6 million was not paid to about 1100 "sessional staff" across the university between 2016 and 2023, according to a media release.
This includes staff at Ballarat's Mair Street campus, with the university stating "less than 50" people in Ballarat over the seven years were affected.
According to the university, staff were emailed on January 17 that "inaccuracies in how entitlements were calculated had resulted in underpayment of some staff wages".
"ACU is contacting all former and current staff who have been affected by this error in order to apologise to them, advise them of the amount owed to them and reassure them that the underpayment will be paid in full, with interest, as soon as possible," the release states.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has been informed, as well as the National Tertiary Education Union and the Community and Public Sector Union.
Other agencies, including the Australian Taxation Office, have also been notified, and the university has begun its own investigation.
Vice-chancellor Professor Zlatko Skrbis apologised to staff in a statement.
"You deserve to be paid correctly for your work and it is our responsibility to ensure you are being paid correctly," he said.
"On behalf of the university, I would like to sincerely and unequivocally apologise on behalf of the university and the Senate to every employee - past and present."
The NTEU's ACU branch president, Dr Leah Kaufmann, said the university became aware there was an issue in "late 2022".
"We look forward to working with ACU to ensure ACU sessional staff conditions comply with the provisions of our Enterprise Agreement," she said in a statement.
"Unlike some other universities, ACU management has reported itself, apologised, committed to full back payments within 28 days, and will be providing access to support for staff identified as the victims of underpayment.
"The NTEU also welcomes ACU's commitment to pay every sessional employee at the highest rate until they can't be confident in their payment systems ensuring staff are paid at the appropriate rate.
"This should be a lesson to all universities: if you're not sure, pay more."
In a statement, NTEU national president Dr Alison Barnes said the admission was "further proof wage theft was endemic in higher education", following a study released in December 2023 alleging $159 million in underpayments across Australia.
"There's barely a university in Australia which hasn't been caught out stealing workers' wages," she said.
"Wage theft is the symptom and insecure work is the disease.
"It's extremely disappointing but not surprising that casual staff have once again been the victims of this egregious conduct."
