Thank you for the incredibly important work you do in supporting the children entrusted to our care to grow and blossom. We are committed to ensuring that our valued employees are paid appropriately and accurately for the work you do.
In late 2023, a review of the payroll system identified a configuration error affecting the calculation of overtime for childcare employees covered by the Children’s Services Award 2010. The error impacted how overtime was applied to hours worked beyond eight hours of ordinary time, as well as to meetings and training conducted outside regular working hours.
As a result, some of our employees may have been underpaid over a period of time.
What have we been doing to fix this problem?
We take this matter extremely seriously and have self-reported to the Fair Work Ombudsman. We have appointed an external expert, whose sole focus and responsibility has been to conduct a comprehensive investigation and recalculation of wages to enable us to rectify this issue.
Given the volume of data, this process takes considerable time to ensure accuracy and thoroughness.
Schedule of back payment
All impacted current employees have now received back payments covering the period from May 2021 to August 2023.
Payments to former employees for this period are scheduled to commence in early 2026. Notifications regarding the rectification process will be sent via text message and email in November 2025. To facilitate payment, recipients will be asked to provide relevant personal details, including banking information, their Tax File Number, and superannuation fund details.
Given the error had been in place for some time, there will be further payments made to affected employees for earlier periods, as the review continues.
What if I have questions?
We are committed to providing timely and relevant information and updates to you as we move through this process.
The employee wage underpayment was discovered following a system and process review conducted by incoming Director, Chris Lugg in 2023.
In broad terms, the system was configured incorrectly, resulting in the following errors:
The incorrect processes may have been in place since the Award commenced in 2010. Some employees may have been paid incorrectly for some hours of work since that time.
We are taking this issue extremely seriously and have self-reported to the Fair Work Ombudsman. We have appointed an external expert, whose sole focus and responsibility has been to conduct a comprehensive investigation and wages review, to enable us to rectify this issue.
Payments to current employees covering the period from May 2021 to August 2023 have been completed.
Payments to former employees for the same period are scheduled to commence in early 2026. Notifications outlining the next steps in the rectification process will be sent via text message and email in November 2025. As part of this process, former employees will be required to provide specific personal details—including banking information, their Tax File Number, and superannuation fund details—to enable payment processing.
As the review progresses, additional payments will be made to affected employees for any other applicable time periods.
All impacted current employees have now received notification via email, pay advice, and back payments covering the period from May 2021 to August 2023.
Any current employee who believes they may be entitled to a back payment but has not received communication, please submit an enquiry via the “Employee wages enquiry” option on this page: https://www.catholicearlyedcare.qld.edu.au/contact. A dedicated assistance line is available to support these enquiries.
Payments to former employees are scheduled to commence in early 2026. Impacted individuals will receive both a text message and an email outlining the next steps in the rectification process in November 2025. To facilitate payment, former employees will be required to provide personal details including banking information, their Tax File Number, and superannuation fund details.
As the review continues, additional payments will be made to affected employees for other applicable time periods.
Impacted former employees will be contacted via text and email in November 2025 to confirm current personal details (banking, tax and superannuation details).
We are allowing sufficient time for former employees to submit up-to-date details. Payment processing is scheduled to commence in early 2026.
Get in touch with our dedicated team by selecting “Employee wages enquiry” on the form on this page: https://www.catholicearlyedcare.qld.edu.au/contact.