Qantas overpays some staff and short-changes others
QANTAS Airways has been underpaying more than 50 workers, and overpaying about 160 others, for up to several years in an “embarrassing” administrative error.
The error in the terms and conditions of about 220 employees working in digital marketing and campaign analytics was identified as part of a role review process.
The mistake meant the roles were wrongly classified and had been offered to employees under individual contracts rather than the relevant enterprise agreement.
As a result, about threeA quarters of people in the roles had been paid an average of $12,000 a year more than they would have been under the enterprise agreement, and one quarter were paid less by about $8000 a year on average.
Those who were underpaid will be reimbursed with interest, and the rest will continue receiving the higher rates.
Qantas executive of people and culture Lesley Grant said there was “never an intention to underpay people, as shown by the fact three-quarters of the people affected are financially better off”.
“This is an error, plain and simple,” Ms Grant said.
“The fact some employees have been negatively impacted is frankly embarrassing.
“We’re paying them back what they should have been paid in the first place, plus interest, and offering an additional $1000.”
Those who were overpaid would not be asked to return money, and would not be worse off in future, she said.
“Qantas takes its responsibilities as an employer very seriously but that clearly doesn’t make us immune to errors,” said Ms Grant. “This error was relatively isolated but it has existed for several years and we’re working to put additional failsafes in place.”
Australian Services Union national secretary Linda White said it was a “bit hard to believe” no senior executives were aware those staff were “illegally” employed.
“There are definitely questions not answered here,” Ms White said.
“Qantas is one of the most meticulous organisations when it comes to HR (human resources) and it’s just a bit of a stretch to believe no one in management knew that hundreds of people were employed under these arrangements.”
She said someone should be accountable for the error.
“Frankly, someone’s head should roll,” said Ms White.
“We’re also asking Qantas whether the person who oversaw the employment of these staff under these arrangements has been paid a bonus in the past five years while this wage theft was happening.”
Ms White added that it was good Qantas was “owning up and paying staff their dues”.
She said the union would seek to interrogate the company’s maths in determining underpayments, and workers should contact their union.
Qantas said the Australian Services Union and the Fair Work Ombudsman had also been notified, adding that the proportion of roles negatively impacted was about 0.2 per cent.