Wage Integrity

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Enquiry Form

Wage Integrity Accountability and Compliance

CQUniversity is committed to accountability and compliance. That is why the University conducts regular reviews and checks into its payroll systems and processes. This helps to ensure the organisation is applying correct and accurate financial management practices.

As part of recent reviews and an extensive audit into payroll management, CQUniversity has identified that some current and former employees have been incorrectly paid, resulting in underpayments. These underpayments primarily relate to (but are not limited to) the incorrect payment or non-payment of correct casual rates and/or employee entitlements. 

The potential underpayment of employees is an issue that CQUniversity takes very seriously. Going forward, every step will be taken to rectify underpayments to affected staff members. 

Actions and Next Steps

CQUniversity is currently undertaking remedial work to ensure impacted current and former employees receive their correct remuneration. A CQUniversity representative will contact current and former staff members who have been identified as being underpaid. Through these interactions CQUniversity representatives will work with impacted employees to organise the repayment of correct wage entitlements. 

As well as conducting regular checks and contacting impacted employees, CQUniversity is also implementing new policy, processes and training to minimise and control the possibility of such errors occurring in the future. CQUniversity has also provided advice and guidance related to this issue to relevant unions and the Fair Work Ombudsman. 

If you are a current or former CQUniversity employee and you think that you may have been incorrectly paid, please contact pac@cqu.edu.au or complete the online enquiry form. A representative from CQUniversity’s People and Culture Wage Integrity team will then be in contact to discuss your specific circumstances. 

Understanding Wage Integrity

During 2023, CQUniversity has proactively commenced an employee wage integrity review following the discovery of underpayments within several other large organisations and universities within Australia. 

The University is committed to ensuring employees are valued and paid correctly in accordance with the Enterprise Agreement. The University is now taking a comprehensive approach to understanding and addressing issues as they arise. Additionally, the University has notified the Fair Work Ombudsman of its actions and has provided follow-up information and updates on the review as requested. (Note: this review only covers CQUniversity, and not its subsidiaries or controlled entities).

Underpayment of entitlements may not be obvious. Many of the issues identified by CQUniversity primarily relate to the payment of correct casual rates and special employee entitlements. 

CQUniversity People and Culture team are thoroughly investigating this issue and identifying cases where underpayments have been made. Representatives from this team will be in contact with impacted current and former staff members to rectify issues. This work is being completed as quickly as possible, however, if you think you may have been underpaid you can also contact the project team by completing this enquiry online form. Upon submission of this form, a representative from CQUniversity will be in contact with you, within 10 business days, to discuss your specific circumstances and concerns. 

In line with its key value of openness, CQUniversity conducted an initial investigation and audit into wage integrity compliance. As part of this investigation, issues were identified and CQUniversity has subsequently self-reported this to the Fair Work Ombudsman. We are committed to maintaining an open dialogue with the Fair Work Ombudsman to report on remediation progress and identification of issues.

Since initial investigations took place, CQUniversity has also enacted the following actions to ensure wage integrity and compliance.

  • A wage integrity project board was convened to oversee the ongoing wage integrity review and governance frameworks at CQUniversity.
  • A wage integrity review team has been established within the University’s People and Culture (PAC) Directorate to conduct investigations and carry out remedial actions.
  • Urgent actions and terms of reference for the review team were established. 
  • Underpayment audits commenced in January 2024 and subsequent remediation work has been carried out. This work is continuing and is expected to continue into 2025. 
  • As well as conducting reviews and processing remediation payments, the wage integrity review team is also working with operational areas from across the University to develop and implement new governance, awareness and training frameworks to improve wage integrity and compliance. 
  • CQUniversity is currently contacting impacted current and former staff members to progress remedial action. 

Paid Meal Allowance Remediation 

From Monday, 21 October, 2024 , the CQUniversity Wage Integrity Team will begin reaching out to former staff members who were eligible for a meal allowance during overtime or Time Off in Lieu of Overtime (TOIL). Initial contact will be made via email and these communications will include clear instructions on how to submit a claim for payment, along with any necessary documentation. 

If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact us at pac@cqu.edu.au or by phone at (07) 4930 6847. 

Current CQUniversity employees can access comprehensive information and resources via the Wage Integrity information page on StaffNet. Former staff members can access additional information by contacting pac@cqu.edu.au or completing the online wage integrity enquiry form. 

CQUniversity’s Privacy Statement can be found under 'Privacy' on the CQUniversity website.

CQUniversity takes wage integrity seriously, which is why more than two years ago we proactively commenced a comprehensive wage integrity review. As part of this process, we identified a number of underpayments affecting current and former staff, immediately began remediation, and self-reported the matter to the Fair Work Ombudsman. You may recall this being mentioned at a past staff forum or in Klomp's Month in Minutes.

Since then, we have established a dedicated wage integrity project team to rectify underpayments and strengthen our systems, processes, and staff awareness to prevent this from happening in the future. More detail on these actions can be found on the Wage Integrity information page on our website.

To date, $1,270,735.85 (inclusive of interest and superannuation) has been repaid to 875 impacted staff members, with investigations into potential further underpayments continuing. Importantly, whilst all underpayments were unintentional, CQUniversity takes full responsibility and is committed to ensuring every staff member is correctly remunerated for the important work they do.

To formalise this commitment, CQUniversity has agreed to enter an Enforceable Undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman. This agreement will strengthen our obligations around independent auditing, transparent reporting, and continuous compliance improvements. While a serious regulatory step, it reflects our values of openness, accountability, and leadership in addressing wage integrity across the sector.

Through this undertaking, we will continue to enhance payroll systems, expand staff training and education, and improve compliance monitoring. These measures will help embed wage integrity into our culture and safeguard the rights and entitlements of all employees. We will also continue to engage with our employees through the Joint Consultative Committee to provide updates on upcoming compliance audits.

There is no action required from you. However, if you believe you may have been underpaid, please contact the Wage Integrity Project Team via pac@cqu.edu.au and they will investigate your report. We have also developed a short online training package to support your understanding of wage integrity and understanding entitlements. The course (Wage Integrity and Your Responsibility) should only take 15 minutes to complete and is available through Empower to current staff members.  Everyone is encouraged to take the time to complete this course, with the training being mandatory for supervisory staff.

If you have any questions about this update, please contact either of the following:

Any of these hotlines can also be contacted on a confidential basis if required. Alternatively, you can contact the FWO via the Fair Work website or on 13 13 94.