National Australia Bank (NAB) has agreed to independent compliance audits and an overhaul of its payroll systems after admitting it underpaid tens of thousands of workers over more than a decade.
The major bank has entered into an enforceable undertaking (EU) with the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), acknowledging contraventions of the Fair Work Act 2009 that NAB said resulted in underpayments of more than $136.3 million.
The shortfalls affected 65,999 current and former employees and date back to October 2012, according to a statement NAB published on 12 November.
NAB said it would directly notify every employee affected by a payroll error, regardless of the amount involved, if it had not already done so. Staff with questions can email NAB’s payroll remediation inbox or contact the FWO, which has published a copy of the EU on its website.
The FWO, which announced the undertaking the same day, said NAB will also make a $2 million contrition payment, the largest ever included in one of the regulator’s enforceable undertakings.
According to the FWO, those underpaid included business and home lending bankers, credit assessment associates and branch managers, with individual back-payments, including superannuation and interest, averaging about $1,934.
The breaches stem from provisions of the National Employment Standards and four separate NAB enterprise agreements, struck in 2011, 2014, 2016, and 2024.
The errors covered a broad range of entitlements, including superannuation, leave, overtime, allowances, public holiday pay, and redundancy and termination payments.
NAB’s Group Executive People & Culture, Sarah White, apologised to affected staff.
“We take our payroll obligations extremely seriously as a basic element in employing people,” White said.
“We sincerely apologise for these unintended errors.”
Under the EU, NAB must finalise its payroll review and remediation program, which is still underway.
It has also committed to rolling out a new payroll platform and time-recording process, setting up new board reporting processes, and appointing an external auditor to carry out at least two compliance audits.
“We have and will continue to remediate anyone who has been impacted,” White said.
The regulator stressed that compliance planning needs to start well before new agreements take effect.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said: “Complying with workplace laws is an organisation-wide responsibility, and planning for compliance with new enterprise agreement terms should begin early to ensure workers receive what they are owed.”
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