June 14th 2023.
The Reserve Bank of Australia recently revealed that it has been underpaying more than 1,000 of its current and former employees.
An internal audit conducted with the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed that a collective amount of $1.15 million was owed to 1173 of its staff.
Most of the discrepancies were due to the bank's incorrect calculations of termination benefits to former staff. In response to the issue, an RBA spokesperson stated that the bank was in the process of repaying all the affected workers, and had informed the relevant ombudsman and union.
The spokesperson also mentioned that the bank had identified issues related to the remuneration of some of its current and former staff, which mainly related to the calculation of payments for annual leave, long service leave and rostered days off.
After the Australian Financial Review reported the bank's apology to its underpaid staff in April, the RBA launched a review with PwC to determine the exact number of affected workers and the amount owed.
This incident is not an isolated one, with several companies apologising for underpaying their staff recently. BHP admitted to underpaying over 28,000 of its employees by $430 million, while Coles revealed that its underpayment bill had increased by $25 million.
In a court case on June 5, it was revealed that Coles and Woolworths had been short-changing their workers on overtime by setting up a payment structure that was not in line with Australia's industrial awards system.
The RBA is now working to finalise payment details with the rest of the impacted workers, so that they can receive their payments as soon as possible. It is yet another reminder of the importance of being mindful of wage laws and regulations, and ensuring that all employees are paid fairly and timely.
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