Prominent University Faces Scrutiny Over $1.25 Million Staff Underpayment Investigation

The University of Adelaide has come under scrutiny for underpaying over 830 of its past casual academic staff by a total of $1.25 million over the span of eight years.

The university revealed that it discovered these underpayments, which occurred from March 2017 to May 2025, after enhancing its auditing and payment verification processes. This step was taken in response to widespread underpayment issues within the academic sector.

The audit revealed that numerous current and former casual academic staff, including those with PhDs or in course coordinator positions, did not receive the higher pay rates they were entitled to.

Consequently, 838 staff members were collectively shortchanged approximately $1.25 million.

“Although this amount constitutes less than 0.05 percent of the total salary payments during that time, it remains an unfortunate and regrettable situation,” commented a spokesperson for the University of Adelaide.

“The university deeply regrets that the underpayments occurred and is remediating staff as quickly as possible.

“Impacted current and former staff have been contacted and repayments have started.”

The university has notified the Fair Work Ombudsman.

“We will continue to implement, enhance, and strengthen our processes and controls,” the spokesperson said.

“The university’s auditing and monitoring activities are continuing, and if any other instances of underpayments are identified, affected staff will be contacted by the university and remediated as quickly as possible.”

The Fair Work Ombudsman said it is investigating the underpayments.

“We expect any employers that identify non-compliance to fully cooperate with our investigations,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

“It is not appropriate to comment further.”

Any staff from the university who may have concerns should contact the ombudsman.

Fair Work began targeting systemic non-compliance in the university sector in 2022, which the National Tertiary Education Union has labelled as a “wage theft epidemic”.

The ombudsman has entered into enforceable undertakings with the University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney, University of Newcastle, La Trobe University, University of Melbourne, Charles Sturt University and Griffith University.

It has won court penalties against the University of Melbourne and has ongoing legal action against the University of NSW. 

The University of Wollongong has recently repaid $6.6 million to more than 5000 underpaid staff.