On Tuesday, Australian Unity apologised to employees after a payroll review found staff had been underpaid an estimated $4.25 million in wages and entitlements – now another case of a provider being found to have mistakenly underpaid staff.
The CEO of Community Based Support, CBS chief Allyson Warrington, told The Mercury the organisation, which has 3,500 aged care and disability clients across Tasmania, discovered the issue when it examined its workforce distribution and classifications.
335 current and former support workers were found to be owed a total of $433,800 from the last four years, with the shortfalls ranging from $2 to $15,900.
The error occurred when CBS paid some employees, who were performing aged care and disability services and duties the lower rate paid to home care workers, Ms Warrington said.
Workers will now be repaid next week and the issue rectified moving forward.
“The underpayment period has occurred since we began caring for disability clients under the National Disability Insurance Scheme,” she added.
“We will be establishing separate teams for both aged care and disability workers, ensuring they are paid the correct rates.”
