Aged and veteran services organisation RSL LifeCare Limited has back paid nearly 4000 ACT and NSW staff more than $5.1 million after it became aware of underpayments made during an 11-year period.
A Fair Work Ombudsman statement released on Tuesday states the organisation self-reported its non-compliance in 2021 after it became aware of the problem when it conducted a self-initiated review during its transition to a new human resources and payroll system.
Underpaid employees were in nursing and management roles at aged care facilities and in-home care programs.
They included full-time, part-time, and casual employees and were based Canberra, Sydney, and regional NSW.
The underpayments were caused by the not-for-profit organisation "making fundamental payroll and rostering system errors, including incorrect system set-up and incorrect pay rules being entered", the ombudsman statement reads.
Most of the underpayments involved RSL LifeCare failing to pay overtime rates in a range of situations where they needed to be paid, including when part-time employees performed work on rostered days off but had otherwise worked fewer than 76 hours in a fortnight.
Another significant cause of the underpayments was the organisation failing to provide shift workers with an extra week of annual leave to which they were entitled.
"Some employees were also underpaid weekend penalty rates," the statement reads.
As a result, between 2010 and 2021, employees were underpaid entitlements set out in the relevant ACT and NSW enterprise agreements.
The backpay to 3591 current and former employees included superannuation and interest with individual payments ranging from less than $1 to more than $76,000.
More than $4.7 million in back payments are being made to NSW workers and more than $525,000 to ACT workers.
A small amount of entitlements remains owing to workers who have not been found.
The organisation also entered, with the ombudsman, an enforceable undertaking, which requires the outstanding underpayments be rectified by April 2023.
Ombudsman Sandra Parker said this case showed "fundamental shortcomings" in the organisation's payroll and rostering system leading to "long-term breaches" of enterprise agreements.
Ms Parker said the undertaking, or written agreement to ensure the underpayments do not occur again, was appropriate because the organisation had cooperated and shown a strong commitment to rectifying underpayments.
This included devoting "significant resources to engaging independent experts to oversee its rectification", she said.
"Under the enforceable undertaking, RSL LifeCare has committed to implementing stringent measures to ensure workers are paid correctly.
"These measures include engaging, at the company's own cost, audits of its compliance with workplace laws over the next two years."
Ms Parker said this case showed how important it was for employers to place a high priority on their workplace obligations and ensure their systems and processes support full compliance.
The undertaking also requires RSL LifeCare to provide the ombudsman with evidence of systems and processes it has put in place to ensure future compliance.
It must also commission an independent organisation to operate a Hotline for employees to enquire about their wages and entitlements, as well as commission workplace relations training for human resources, payroll, and rostering staff.
The organisation has been contacted for comment.
