Regrettably, this review found instances of underpayment and overpayment of entitlements (including wages, shift loading and allowances) and superannuation errors relating to some of our employees.

On 9 November 2020, the Group formally acknowledged to the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) that contraventions of Agreements and Awards had occurred and consequently a number of employees had been incorrectly paid. In some instances, this included incorrect accruals of annual or personal and carer’s leave.

As a result, Australian Unity has entered into an Enforceable Undertaking with the FWO to ensure ongoing compliance with Commonwealth workplace laws. Under this agreement, the Group commits to undertaking several activities to ensure our continued compliance—including conducting independent audits and formally apologising to impacted employees.

Australian Unity’s Group Managing Director, Rohan Mead said that the company deeply regretted the errors and apologised to adversely affected employees.

“We always seek to pay our people correctly and would never intentionally underpay anyone,” Mr Mead said.

“To minimise the risk of these issues reoccurring, we’ve made a number of enhancements to improve our systems and processes.

“We appreciate and value the work our people do to support our customers and the significant impact this has on our broader community. We would never want to jeopardise the positive, ongoing contribution that our employees make to the community.”

If you worked for any of the member companies of the Australia Unity Group (Australian Unity Home Care Services Pty Ltd, Australian Unity Better Living Services Pty Ltd, Better Home Care Pty Ltd; Australian Unity Care Services Pty Ltd, Australian Unity Retirement Living Management Pty Ltd and KNS Essential Care Pty Ltd) during the period from 1 July 2014 to 22 October 2021 and have questions relating to your employment, please contact Australian Unity via our Employee Central team on 1300 448 490 (option 3) or by email at payreview@australianunity.com.au.

Alternatively, please contact the Fair Work Ombudsman via www.fairwork.gov.au or on 13 13 94.

-ENDS-

Media contact:
T: 1300 408 776
E: media@australianunity.com.au

About Australian Unity
Established in 1840, Australian Unity is a member-owned wellbeing company with more than 385,000 members and more than 700,000 customers. Our range of health, wealth and care products and services provides member, customer and community value that is supportive of personal and community wellbeing.