NAB is completing payments of $127 million in back pay, plus $34 million in interest and $8 million in super, to 65,999 current and former staff under an Enforceable Undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman, the regulator announced on Thursday.
Staff have been told in an email from Group Executive People & Culture Sarah White, seen by The Aussie Corporate. "We sincerely apologise for these unintended errors," she wrote.
NAB will also pay $2 million to the Commonwealth as a contrition payment, the largest ever in an Enforceable Undertaking signed with the Fair Work Ombudsman.
What the email tells staff
The email names four enterprise agreements, from 2011, 2014, 2016 and 2024, and says NAB "failed to ensure eligible colleagues received correct pay, superannuation, leave, allowances, overtime, redundancy, termination and public holiday entitlements".
It tells staff, "We will notify you directly, if we haven't already, if you have been affected by any of the payroll errors, regardless of the size of the issue."
The email gives no dollar figure and no number of people. It matches the apology letter attached to the undertaking, which requires NAB to email a further written apology to all of its current Australian staff.
Two figures for the same underpayment
NAB's public statement, which the undertaking requires on its website and intranet, says the underpayments came to "more than $136,300,000 to 65,999 current and former NAB employees" from 1 October 2012. That figure is the wages of $127.7 million and the super of $8.6 million added together. The undertaking adds $34 million in interest, for a total of $170.3 million.
NAB has paid at least $155 million so far, the regulator said. It has also adjusted the leave balances of 24,018 people, according to the undertaking.
Who was underpaid
Casual, part-time and full-time staff across personal and business banking were underpaid, the regulator said, including "customer and business support advisors, quality assurance and risk analysts, credit assessment and private banking associates, business and home lending bankers, digital and product consultants, branch and business managers and project managers".
The missing money covered minimum wages, penalty rates, shift loadings, overtime, meal and standby allowances, termination payments, annual, personal and long service leave, and super. Back payments range from less than $5 to more than $87,000, with an average of about $1,934.
NAB first reported underpayments to the regulator in late 2019. When it brought in its 2024 enterprise agreement, it found it was still underpaying staff. The regulator put the causes down to weak governance, poor record keeping, old payroll technology and too little investment in specialist payroll skills.
"It's particularly disappointing to see these types of large and long-running underpayment issues in such a well-resourced employer," Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said.
When the money arrives
The undertaking started on 10 November. Current staff still owed money are to be paid within 60 days of that date.
Former staff are paid once NAB has checked what they are owed and has their bank and super details. Money for former staff NAB can't find goes to the Commonwealth within 90 days of NAB's payroll review finishing, into an unclaimed money account that anyone can search, the regulator said.
Former staff who think they are owed can ask NAB, or contact the Fair Work Ombudsman at fairwork.gov.au or through the Fair Work Infoline.
A new payroll system built by someone else
NAB is building a new payroll platform and has "engaged a third party to develop and implement" it, the undertaking says. NAB accepts that outsourcing "does not diminish its responsibility" to pay staff correctly. If the platform won't go live within 12 months of the undertaking starting, NAB must tell the regulator why.
An independent auditor will check the new platform at least twice and report to the regulator. NAB has also agreed to report pay compliance to its Board, track staff complaints through to resolution, hold regular staff forums and train staff on recording extra hours worked.
The next enterprise agreement
The current agreement reaches its nominal expiry date on 31 December 2026, the undertaking says. If a replacement is approved within three years, a steering committee chaired by the Group Executive People & Culture must plan how NAB's systems will apply its terms before it starts.
It is the first time a Fair Work Ombudsman undertaking has included terms like these, the regulator said.
What we don't know
We don't know how many current staff are still waiting on money, when the new payroll platform goes live or which company is building it. NAB has not said whether bargaining for the next agreement has started.
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