Aged care operator who underpaid staff $5.4M commits to enforceable undertakings

The Not For Profit operator of residential aged care, home care and retirement living has agreed to a series of undertakings to the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Southern Cross Care (WA) has committed to:

• commissioning two independent audits, at its own cost, to check its compliance with workplace laws;
• provide the Fair Work Ombudsman quarterly updates and regularly report to its Board about compliance.
• Establish ways for employees to raise their views, including though union-attended forums.

In December 2024, Southern Cross Care (WA) self-reported underpayments over more than eight years to the Fair Work Ombudsman after employee and union queries about pay and conditions prompted an internal review.

The underpayments occurred between January 2017 and November 2025, related to nearly 2,000 staff, and amounted in total to $5.4 million including interest and superannuation.

So far, Southern Cross Care (WA) has paid back 1,956 employees a total $5,382,122, with backpayments ranging from less than a dollar to $95,426. The median was $546.

Affected workers included home care employees, aged care workers, and nurses, young workers and nearly 400 visa holders.

A warning for employers

Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said the matter shows employers must check their systems are paying employees their correct pay and entitlements.

“The matter serves as a warning of the significant long-running problems that can result from an employer failing to have appropriate checks and balances to ensure workplace compliance," she said.

Systems incorrectly configured

The Not For Profit said the non-compliance arose from the incorrect configuration of its time and attendance and payroll systems, and misinterpretation of enterprise agreement provisions and employees were underpaid their base pay rates.

The small amount of outstanding wages owed will be paid into the Commonwealth Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Anna Booth, Fair Work Ombudsman, said Southern Cross Care (WA) had cooperated with the FWO’s investigation and showed a genuine commitment to rectifying the underpayments and preventing them in the future.

Not an isolated incident

Southern Cross Care (WA)'s case is not unique.

Siobhain Simpson, Partner at StewartBrown, told the accounting firm’s October 2025 National Finance Forum that the “extraordinary complexity” of modern payroll systems has seen underpayment increasingly common in recent years.

Added to this is the complexity of the Aged Care, SCHADS and Nurses Awards.

Earlier this year, Southern Cross Care (NSW & ACT) entered an Enforceable Undertaking to repay $11.7 million in underpayments to 5,500 aged care staff.

Southern Cross Care Tasmania, Regis Healthcare, and Australian Unity have all been found to have underpaid staff in recent years.

In 2023-24, the Fair Work Ombudsman inspected 20 residential aged care operators, recovering more than $40.5 million for more than 22,000 underpaid aged care staff working in residential aged care.