Yes. All impacted staff with a shortfall of $1 or more will receive any wage shortfall, interest, and superannuation (where applicable).
If you have been contacted by ACU about a remediation payment, this means our review identified that you were underpaid for one or more entitlements during the period assessed.
This is a complex, university-wide review. ACU is undertaking a detailed assessment with independent expert advice to ensure all affected staff are identified accurately. The broader review remains ongoing.
This page addresses common questions relating to ACU's Wage Compliance Program. If you have further questions, please contact:
For support, ACU's Employee Assistance Program (Acacia EAP) is available 24/7.
Visit the Employee Assistance Program webpage or call 1300 364 273.
Yes. All impacted staff with a shortfall of $1 or more will receive any wage shortfall, interest, and superannuation (where applicable).
The review is being conducted in stages by employment type. If more than one role is affected, you may receive separate communications.
This approach ensures that eligibility is assessed accurately against the circumstances of each role.
Payments are calculated based on the applicable enterprise agreement and/or award provisions in place at the time the work was performed.
Not necessarily. The review is being conducted in stages by employment type. If you are affected, ACU will contact you. You can also contact us if you believe a review should be undertaken.
Yes. ACU has:
ACU has allocated specific budget provisions to meet its legal obligations to repay underpayments, including interest and superannuation.
ACU has used SMS to contact some former staff.
However, ACU will not send links via SMS. If a message includes a link, do not click it. Contact ACU via the contact details above to verify.
If you have clicked on a link in an SMS message which asks for your banking details and you think your banking details have been compromised, contact your bank immediately and also report it to Scamwatch.
Yes. Letters have been sent to former staff who did not respond to emails or SMS. Follow the instructions provided to update your details.
If you have not received a link, contact ACU at the details above to request a secure link.
For your security, do not send sensitive information via email.
In some cases, records may have been incomplete. If you believe you have been contacted in error, please inform us using the details above.
Contact ACU using the details above. Your query will be reviewed by the Wage Compliance Program team.
Contact ACU using the details above to request information about your remediation payment.
You can request a review by providing details of:
Please be aware that such claims will be carefully considered and investigated by the university but these processes may take some time as the progression of the Program must be prioritised by the Wage Compliance Program team.
No. ACU is legally required to make the payment to you.
If we cannot process the payment due to missing details, the amount will be transferred to the Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman (OFWO), who will then seek to contact you to arrange payment.
Yes. International payments can be arranged once your identity and banking details are verified.
Yes. All applicable superannuation contributions will be paid into your nominated fund.
Super is calculated at the current Super Guarantee rate (12% as at 1 July 2025).
A remediation interest rate of 10% per annum has been applied to the affected superannuation contributions, in line with ACU's approach to compensating staff for the time value of the underpayment.
It may. If you are at risk of exceeding the concessional contributions cap, refer to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website. ACU cannot request adjustments on your behalf.
Yes. Payments are taxed in accordance with ATO requirements and reported accordingly. You may wish to seek advice from a tax professional.
Interest is calculated in accordance with the Federal Court pre-judgement guidelines, up to the end of the relevant quarter.
The broader review covers work performed between 19 May 2018 - 13 September 2024.
The review is broad and includes:
ACU identified that some Study Assistants employed between 2018 and 2024 may not have been paid correctly.
The role has since been assessed as academic in nature and should be classified and paid as casual academic staff under Schedule 2 of the ACU Staff Enterprise Agreement.
Work completed after 31 August 2024 will be assessed under the broader review, which is ongoing.
From Semester 2 2025, Study Assistants are paid under the appropriate casual academic rates from Schedule 2, based on PhD status.
ACU identified underpayments affecting some casual (sessional) academic staff employed between 2016 and 2023.
These relate primarily to the incorrect application of higher pay rates for staff with PhD qualifications or those undertaking subject/unit coordination or Lecturer-in-Charge duties.
Under the ACU Staff Enterprise Agreement, these higher rates should apply to most relevant work activities. In some cases, they were not applied consistently, resulting in underpayments.
Approximately 1,100 current and former staff are affected.
The total estimated underpayment is around $3.6 million.
No. This issue only affects casual (sessional) academic staff who:
In some cases, staff were entitled to a higher rate of pay for certain activities but were not consistently paid at that rate across all relevant work.
The review period aligns with legal obligations, covering approximately seven years.
ACU has:
The investigation into this issue is complete. However, the broader review of staff entitlements across the university continues.
All staff email dated 25 November 2024 from the Provost (PDF)
All staff email dated 11 July 2024 from the Provost (PDF)
All staff email dated 3 May 2024 from the Provost (PDF)
Email dated 28 March 2024 from the Chief Operating Officer to current sessional staff (PDF)
Email dated 27 February 2024 from the Chief Operating Officer to current sessional staff (PDF)
All staff email dated 31 January 2024 from the Chief Operating Officer (PDF)
All staff email dated 17 January 2024 from the Vice-Chancellor and President (PDF)
Protecting your personal information is important to us.
We will never ask you to confirm or provide your tax, banking or superannuation details by phone or email.
If we need to collect or update your information, we will do so using a secure process, such as a personal, one-time link to a secure online portal.
If we collect new personal information from you, we will provide a privacy collection notice explaining how that information will be handled, and where appropriate, we will seek your consent. We'll only use your information to manage your employment entitlements (including using third parties and systems to do so), but without your information ACU will be unable to pay your entitlement.
All relevant enquiries should be directed to the dedicated phone number or email address above.
Visit Service Central to access Corporate Services.