On 17 January 2024 Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Zlatko Skrbis wrote to the university community to advise that the university was undertaking a thorough review of historic employee payments relating to sessional (casual) academic staff.
On 17 January 2024 Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Zlatko Skrbis wrote to the university community to advise that the university was undertaking a thorough review of historic employee payments relating to sessional (casual) academic staff.
ACU initially became aware of some potential anomalies in late 2022, from an internal review.
In 2023, partnering with Deloitte, we conducted an assessment to thoroughly identify the scope of the issue and what needed to be done to address it. ACU identified that some sessional academic employees did not receive the rates applicable for subject coordination and PhD qualifications in accordance with the ACU Staff Enterprise Agreement.
We have worked to remediate this issue as quickly as possible. Most current staff who are eligible for a payment correction have now received their payment. We have also made payments to a number of former staff. The remaining payments to current and former staff will be made as soon as possible.
A further program of work to review employee entitlements more broadly is ongoing. We are also working to implement enhanced governance and controls to ensure these errors do not happen again.
We are engaging closely with the Fair Work Ombudsman as the work is progressed.
ACU is committed to wage integrity, in accordance not only with our legal obligations but also with our dedication to upholding the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. Our mission as a Catholic university commits us to treat every human person with dignity and respect.
All staff email dated 11 July from the Provost (PDF, 148 KB)
All staff email dated 6 May 2024 from the Provost (PDF, 168 KB)
All staff email dated 17 January 2024 from the Vice-Chancellor and President (PDF, 205 KB)
All staff email dated 31 January 2024 from the Chief Operating Officer (PDF, 126 KB)
Email dated 28 March 2024 from the Chief Operating Officer to current sessional staff (PDF, 64 KB)
ACU has contacted current and former sessional academic employees directly where a remediation payment is to be made as an outcome of the review.
The university sent an email to anyone entitled to receive a remediation payment from the email address entitlements@acu.edu.au.
Current staff were contacted via their ACU email address.
Former staff were contacted via the contact details held on university files and asked to provide their current banking, tax and superannuation details to facilitate payment.
We encourage you to contact us via the email address or telephone number below (see key contacts) if you think you could be affected by this issue and your contact details have changed since you were employed by the university.
Please also get in contact if you have any questions about this issue.
If you are a current or former staff member and wish to report concerns about issues related to payment and entitlements during your employment with ACU, please contact us via the email address or telephone number below (see key contacts).
For additional support, our Employee Assistance Program provided by Acacia EAP offers a 24/7 service, rapid response times and emergency telephone counselling to staff.
Refer to the Employee Assistance Program webpage for further information or contact Acacia EAP directly via phone (1300 364 273) or online.
Email entitlements@acu.edu.au, or
Call +61 7 3623 7272 and select option 4.
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 will be used to assess the individual's underpayment claim. Further information about how the university generally collects and processes personal information can be found in our Privacy Policy. For further information on privacy please refer to the following university policies:
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