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ABC apologises for underpaying staff

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After an internal review at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the national broadcaster has apologised and promised to repay staff affected by an inadvertant error.

In January, the ABC announced they were reviewing payments of current and former staff from July 2014 to June 2021.

After learning some employees engaging in a buyout arrangement and those employed through the Band 1 classification were inadvertently being underpaid, the ABC has committed to paying what is owed after a period of consultation with affected individuals.

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They also issued an apology to those impacted by the error, and have implemented measures to ensure all employees are paid accurately in the future.

The ABC has come under fire for underpayments to staff before, with June reports finding the ABC back-paid more than 1800 current and former staff of $12 million in wages they were entitled to, but didn’t receive in a seven-year period from 2012 to 2019.

At the time, Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said despite the ABC self-reporting the underpayments to the FWO, it will also make a contrition payment of $600,000.

The full statement issued by the ABC today is as follows:

The ABC announced in January that it was reviewing payments to current and former employees who were engaged on a buyout or on a Band 1 classification, from 14 July 2014 to 20 June 2021.

Under a buyout, employees are paid a loading in lieu of overtime, penalties, allowances and other entitlements provided by the ABC Enterprise Agreement. However, the review has found that in many cases people were inadvertently paid less than they were entitled to.

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Separately, the review found that underpayments also occurred when an employee was incorrectly classified or remained at Band 1, which is only appropriate for an entry-level employee with no prior experience.

During the review the ABC also identified staff who were underpaid a meal allowance compensation entitlement.

The ABC will start paying what is owed after a period of consultation with affected individuals.

We are sorry to all those impacted by this error, which falls short of the standards expected of the ABC.

The ABC has implemented several measures to ensure all employees are paid accurately in the future.

These measures include additional checks on buyouts for current and future employees prior to any buyout arrangement commencing. In those cases when a buyout is used, the ABC will carefully monitor such arrangements to ensure employees are not paid less than they would be under the terms and conditions of the Enterprise Agreement. The ABC will also limit its use of the Band 1 classification.

More broadly, the ABC is implementing a new record keeping, leave management and rostering system to improve its compliance with employee payment requirements. This new system complies with the terms of the ABC’s Enforceable Undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman concerning the underpayment of casual workers, in relation to recording work hours for ABC employees.

The ABC is liaising with the Fair Work Ombudsman and the CPSU and the MEAA in relation to the review and the measures we are implementing. We are also continuing to consult with our employees.

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Matthew Simmonds
Matthew Simmonds
Matthew Simmonds is a journalist and blogger, with a keen interest in the world of Reality TV. He loves exploring both what’s happening in front of the camera but also how the magic comes together behind the scenes. If not glued to the TV bingeing one of the newest obsessions or a timeless series, you’ll find Matthew endlessly scrolling through Twitter (and he may even tweet a time or two). Matthew graduated from a Bachelor Degree in Communication, majoring in Journalism, at the Queensland University of Technology in 2022.
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