The Australian National University (ANU) says it has taken swift action to address $2 million in missed payments to casual staff.

An error in timesheet processing reportedly led to 2,290 former and current casual to be underpaid in the past 11 years.

The university has also issued a formal apology to those affected and a commitment to corrective actions.

The ANU voluntarily reported the issue to the Fair Work Ombudsman and launched an investigation, which revealed the median missed payment per affected staff member to be about $600.

ANU has assured that all affected staff will receive any missed payments, including superannuation entitlements, plus interest. 

The university says it disbursed $261,000 to 220 staff for missed payments in the 2023/2024 financial year.

The error stemmed from unactioned timesheets submitted by casual staff, which were not flagged for the university's attention due to a system configuration issue. 

ANU says it has taken steps to rectify this system error to prevent future occurrences.

“ANU apologises to all staff affected by this error and any hardship, challenges, and stress this may have caused,” said Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell.

“ANU is taking immediate and comprehensive action to remedy this situation and to ensure it does not happen again. 

“The University has voluntarily notified the Fair Work Ombudsman of the error and the corrective steps taken by the University to avoid a similar error in the future. 

“ANU has also notified staff identified in our investigations as being impacted by this error and is working to remediate all missed payments as soon as possible.”

In addition to addressing the timesheet error, the university also identified another payment issue affecting up to 120 staff undertaking emergency and on-call duties. 

ANU says it is currently investigating this issue and will ensure any outstanding allowances are paid, and has engaged KPMG for assistance.

More details are accessible here.