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The underlying cause of this is widespread casualisation of tertiary education which creates a breeding ground for staff to be ripped off .
Monash University vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner with students Laila Halim and Tom Morrall . Photo : Aaron Francis / The Australian
Missing millions
Monash University admits to massive underpayment of casual staff .
By Conor Burke
Monash has become the latest university to own up to wage theft , announcing that they owe casual academics millions in underpayments .
After an internal investigation Monash vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner has admitted that between January 1 2014 and 30 June 2020 sessional tutors were underpaid by $ 8.6 million .
The National Tertiary Education Union Monash branch said the outcome is the direct result of an NTEU investigation on behalf of its casual members .
“ The practice at Monash University relates to the re-classification of lectures and tutorials as ‘ workshops ’, ‘ practicals ’ or ‘ laboratories ’ resulting in the systematic underpayment of sessional teachers . Staff are paid at the ‘ Other Required Academic Activity ’ hourly rate , rather than the appropriate rate for lectures or tutorials ," said NTEU Monash branch president Ben Eltham .
“ As a result , many staff are not being paid for any preparation time for their teaching sessions . Some staff are being paid at onethird of the appropriate hourly rate . Some casual academics are coordinating whole units but not being paid for answering emails from students , or preparing lecture materials for classes ."
Eltham said that the practice is widespread across the university sector and believes that senior managers , including the vice chancellor of his institution , provost and chief operating officer " were all aware of it ".
Gardner told the Australian Financial Review that any underpayments were accidental .
" We have asked how do we stop these errors happening again . So we changed the whole system as to how we are recording what people are doing , so that it is completely consistent and should avoid future confusion ,” she said .
Monash is the latest university to be embroiled in a wage theft scandal .
In recent months both the University of Sydney and The University of Melbourne were found to have underpaid staff by $ 13 million and $ 9.5 million respectively .
And another 12 universities across the nation have been , or are in the process of being , audited for systemic underpayment .
In a statement to colleagues , Gardner outlined the underpayments , which amounted to " less than 1 per cent of the university ' s total payroll ," during that six-year period .
" Timesheet submission errors " for sessional payments were said to account for $ 0.9 million of the underpayments , while " inconsistent descriptions of teaching activities " accounted for the other $ 7.7 million in underpayments .
Staff who were victims of underpayment will be receiving back pay by the end of October .
Eltham said that this episode is proof that underpayment is not an accident , rather part of the " business model " of Australian universities .
" The underlying cause of this is widespread casualisation of tertiary education which creates a breeding ground for staff to be ripped off and creates huge barriers to them reporting this exploitation ," he said .
" Monash University is a world top-100 university . Vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner ’ s recent Strategic Plan commits the university to ‘ undertaking education and research of the highest international quality '.
“ Stealing the wages of academics is not high-quality education . You can ' t have the ‘ highest international quality ’ education when teachers are not paid to prepare for their classes .
" Students and parents would be horrified to learn that academics teaching classes in computer science , physics , social sciences , paramedicine , engineering and physiology at the university are not being properly paid for the teaching they are delivering ."
Eltham said that the NTEU and regulators will be watching closely to see that and back pay will be paid out " thoroughly and transparently ". ■
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