Payroll underpayment affected 248 casual workers

A payroll underpayment affecting 248 casual employees at a Federal Court of Australia listed entity has prompted the Payroll Leadership Institute of Australia to urge employers to re-test entitlement rules as conditions change.

In August 2026, the entity disclosed a payroll configuration issue affecting casual staff who recorded fewer than four hours on their timesheets. Those workers did not receive the minimum four-hour engagement entitlement required under the relevant enterprise agreements.

Payments dated from after August 2018. The affected group comprised 152 former employees and 96 current employees. Average gross underpayment was about $219 per employee, excluding interest. Total remediation payments were about $77,000, including superannuation and interest.

PLIA said the case showed that accurate payroll inputs do not necessarily mean full entitlements have been calculated correctly. “Accurate timesheets do not automatically mean accurate payroll,” the institute said.

According to PLIA, employers also need to test whether the employment rules between recorded work and final payment are being interpreted and applied correctly. The institute argued that payroll assurance should go beyond checking that a pay run processed successfully.

PLIA calls for three payroll checks

First, PLIA wants employers to trace each entitlement from its source into payroll configuration. That source could be an award, an enterprise agreement, a contract or legislation.

Next, the institute urged deliberate testing of exception scenarios. It listed short shifts, overtime thresholds, penalty rates and manual overrides as examples. PLIA said those cases often expose problems that routine pay runs miss.

Finally, PLIA called for re-testing after any change to employment conditions, software or payroll configuration. It warned that payroll compliance is not a one-time task completed at system go-live.

Instead, PLIA said every significant change can create a risk that entitlements and calculations drift apart. The institute also pointed to changing workforce conditions as a trigger for fresh testing.

Meanwhile, the listed entity said it had identified and corrected the problem. It also notified relevant oversight agencies and said it would continue reviewing and enhancing payroll controls.

PLIA linked the issue to a narrow configuration fault that persisted across multiple pay cycles. The institute said the four-hour entitlement also appears in the current Federal Court of Australia Enterprise Agreement 2024-2027.

Neither PLIA nor the listed entity disclosed the name of the employer in the court matter. They also did not state when the remediation was completed or when the configuration issue first entered the payroll system.