Employee Entitlement Remediation Program

All superannuation payments have been paid directly into your superannuation funds as held on record by the University.

For UniSuper members, all remediation payments will go into your accumulation account. For employees with a Defined Benefit Division (DBD) account, the fund may advise of any impact to your defined benefit calculations.

Any payments relating to Superannuation Guarantee (SG) obligations have been made via the Australian Tax Office (ATO). The ATO will assess the amount, including interest, issue correspondence to affected employees and disburse the funds to your superannuation fund.

The University has issued a letter to all affected employees advising of the shortfalls and identifying any SG components.

Superannuation contributions are typically taxable at 15%, though there are exceptions to this which will be based on your personal circumstances.

For further information on taxation, we refer you to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website and the How your super is taxed information on the UniSuper website.

UniSuper has been notified of the remediation and has arranged for member service consultants to be available to provide support. Appointments can be made on the UniSuper website.

Concessional superannuation contributions that are above yearly limits, currently $27,500 (for the 2023-24 financial year), are included in your assessable income and may affect how much income tax you pay.

If you may be at risk of exceeding the superannuation concessional contributions cap for this financial year, refer to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website for information on options available to you.

Under Australian Tax Office (ATO) legislation, the University has an obligation to apply interest in accordance with the ATO’s requirements for Superannuation Guarantee (SG) shortfalls. This is calculated and applied by the ATO on the shortfalls. The rate applied is currently 10% per annum nominal interest.

While there is no obligation for interest payments to be made on Enterprise Agreement shortfalls, the University determined that the Federal Court pre-judgement rate of 8.35% per annum would be applied to the cumulative quarterly total of the shortfall amounts.

Payments comprise of a superannuation shortfall amount and interest on the shortfall amount.

The University engaged a third party to calculate the superannuation that would have been due under the revised interpretation for each fortnightly pay period for all University employees over the review period (1 July 2013 – 24 March 2024). The modelled outcomes were then compared to the actual fortnightly superannuation paid during the same period and across the quarter. Interest was calculated and applied on any net shortfalls identified in each quarter. The cumulative quarterly shortfalls over the remediation period resulted in the final total shortfall amount for each employee.

The University also decided to increase any calculated shortfalls of less than $20.00 relating to Enterprise Agreement obligations to a $20.00 payment.

To view the payment made by the University, log into the UniSuper website or mobile app and navigate to the “Transactions” tab. Here, you will find a record of all contributions, including an entry labelled “Award Contribution From The University Of Western Australia”. An entry will match the payment amount stated in the letter you received in May.

UniSuper can provide support and assistance in navigating where to view the payment. Appointments can be made on the UniSuper website. If you have any questions, please  contact the University’s remediation team on the hotline on (08) 6488 6888 or  [email protected].

The University has identified a historical misinterpretation in its obligations of long service leave entitlements to a cohort of former professional and general employees who are owed additional payments of vested long service leave following their termination. 

It has now been determined that the long service leave entitlements under the General Staff Award 2005 were applicable to employees covered under the Professional & General Employees Agreement 2017. 

The University sought to notify affected employees in July 2024 and is remediating the shortfalls, with interest. Total shortfall payments to 94 affected former employees is $285,400, comprising of $263,400 in shortfall payments and $22,000 in interest. Interest has been applied using the Federal Court pre-judgement rate.

To date, the University has remitted payments to 86 former employees, totalling $270,000 (inclusive of interest). The remaining payments relate to deceased estates and former employees that the University has not been able to contact to date, and is in the process of obtaining required details to finalise payments.

Payments will be made directly to affected former employees via an Australian bank account.

All affected former employees will receive a letter from the University advising of the shortfall and a request to update their current payment details via a secure online form. Payments will be made in the month following receipt of payment details.

For the first long service leave entitlement, the accrual rate for ongoing appointments from 1 November 2010 is 13 weeks of long service leave after 7 years of service as an ongoing employee. For ongoing appointments prior to 1 November 2010 and all fixed-term appointments, the accrual rate is 13 weeks of long service leave after 10 years of continuous service.

Where there is a combination of service types (fixed-term and ongoing), the accrual date will fall between 7 and 10 years, depending on the proportion of time spent in each type of appointment.

The shortfall was determined by assessing records of accruals against the above determination of accrual.

The University has assessed the pay rates of Early Childhood Teachers employed in the University’s Early Learning Centre and identified that the hourly rates of pay under The University of Western Australia Child Care Employees’ Collective Agreement 2015 (Agreement) were below the rates of the Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2020 (Award) since 1 January 2022.

The University undertook a review of all Early Childhood Teachers employed within the Early Learning Centre between the period of 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2024. The review included:

1. Identification: Identification of employees who are classified as Early Childhood Teachers and meet the definition of an Early Childhood Teacher under the Award.
2. Review and Analysis: Analysis of all identified employees’ hourly pay rates and classifications under the Agreement compared to the applicable Award since 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2024.
3. Calculate: Based on analysis, calculate any identified underpayments.

The review found that a total of 12 current and former employees were potentially affected.

Following the review, the remediation process involved:

• Rectification: Since 1 July 2024, all current employees classified as Early Childhood Teachers in the Early Learning Centre have been paid the correct entitlement in line with the applicable Award.
• Engagement and Remediation: The University has been engaging directly with affected employees on the review and remediation of this matter. As of November 2024, over $160,000 in payments have been remitted to current and former employees, for the period between 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2024.

The University has updated the rate of pay for Teachers in the Early Learning Centre to reflect the higher rate of pay. The University has implemented additional monitoring controls and systems to ensure that this issue does not happen again.