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Enterprise App StoreWage underpayments—often called "wage theft"—are an escalating issue in Australia, particularly within sectors like higher education, as well as local and federal government.
As compliance and audit scrutiny intensify, CFOs, Chief Risk Officers, Heads of HR, Payroll Managers, and Auditors must consider modernising their payroll systems and processes. The risks are no longer limited to monetary penalties but extend to reputational damage, personal executive liability, and systemic failure caused by outdated technology and manual interventions.
This article explores the root causes, recent examples, and the pressing need to automate the entire flow from time capture to pay processing.
The scope of the problem
Wage underpayment is widespread across Australia. Universities such as the University of Melbourne, the University of Sydney, and RMIT have reported large-scale underpayments totalling millions.
Similarly, several councils, including Moreland and Casey City Councils, have disclosed errors stemming from incorrect award interpretations and time/pay mismatches.
These underpayments are often not caused by deliberate actions but by outdated systems, manual processes, and an overreliance on manual system calculations or key individuals within payroll functions.
This creates an environment where even minor changes, such as retroactive timesheet edits or misapplication of penalty rates, can lead to cumulative errors over time.
The human factor: risk of manual changes
In many organisations, payroll officers still make manual adjustments to time entries or pay data: adjustments that may be undocumented, ad hoc, and difficult to audit.
This creates an unacceptable level of personal and organisational risk:
- Manual override of entitlements without automated validation against award conditions
- Calculation inconsistencies across fortnightly, monthly, or casual pay periods
- Inadequate training, where payroll officers assume the system is accurate without fully understanding its calculations
In essence, organisations trust that legacy payroll systems are "doing the right thing" without fully understanding or validating how.
Federal government: an emerging risk zone
Federal Government agencies are not immune. Many rely on legacy payroll systems that have been in place for many years, and are struggling with modernisation, cloud migration, and award interpretation adaptation.
This sector is under increasing scrutiny to ensure pay compliance, yet faces challenges such as outdated payroll logic, manual workarounds, and limited audit traceability. The complexity of enterprise agreements in the public sector amplifies this risk.
Courtenay Hollis, CEO of Imminently, emphasises that a major vulnerability in payroll compliance arises from systems that lack a genuine legal interpretation capability.
“Traditional payroll platforms often rely on static, rule-based approaches, which fail to interpret the full complexity of modern awards, enterprise agreements, and other regulatory texts in their natural language form,” Mr Hollis told TechnologyOne.
“Without a true legal interpretation engine embedded in payroll operations, organisations remain exposed to systemic compliance risks and wage underpayment errors, particularly in intricate employment scenarios common within public sector and higher education workforces.”
The Slater & Gordon payroll data breach: a wake-up call
The recent Slater & Gordon payroll data breach serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities inherent in legacy payroll systems. The breach exposed sensitive employee data, including bank accounts, tax file numbers, and remuneration records, raising both legal and reputational alarms.
Two critical issues emerged: the over-reliance on individual payroll officers and fragmented processes, and the lack of robust cybersecurity features like encryption, role-based access, and audit trails in older platforms.
This incident underscores the urgent need for payroll modernisation. Without secure platforms and integrated controls, even routine operations become high-risk activities.
The path forward: automate and audit
Organisations must adopt an integrated strategy for payroll and time management. Such a strategy must include:
- Automated award interpretation and time capture tools that eliminate the guesswork
- Real-time compliance validation before payroll is processed
- End-to-end auditability from rostering to payslips
- Digital learning platforms to upskill payroll teams on system usage and award intricacies
The risks of wage theft and non-compliance are no longer theoretical. They are real, reputational, and potentially career-ending. In the eyes of regulators and employees, ignorance is not an excuse.
For executives responsible for governance, the path forward is clear:
- Invest in modern payroll platforms with embedded compliance
- Automate from time entry to pay to cut out manual errors
- Educate teams and enforce auditability at every step
Failing to act is no longer an option. It’s time to modernise.
Future-proof your payroll with TechnologyOne
Manual payroll processes are no longer fit for purpose in an environment of increasing compliance obligations, complex awards, and heightened employee expectations. TechnologyOne’s Human Resources and Payroll product is purpose-built to help organisations modernise their payroll operations, reduce systemic risk, and improve accuracy with end-to-end automation.
Book a demo today to discover how TechnologyOne HRP can transform your HR and payroll operations.
Book a demoAbout Imminently
Imminently, a strategic partner of TechnologyOne, specialises in automating payroll compliance by embedding its advanced legal interpretation engine, Decisively, into payroll workflows.
By accurately interpreting complex Australian modern awards and enterprise agreements in real-time, Imminently’s technology (Decisively) proactively ensures that every payroll calculation aligns precisely with regulatory requirements as staff enter their information, significantly reducing compliance risks.
Through this partnership, organisations effectively address the systemic risks of wage theft and reinforce trust among employees and regulatory bodies alike.
Human Resources & Payroll (HRP) FAQs
Read some of our most frequently asked questions (FAQs) on Human Resources & Payroll below or contact one of our friendly team members if you need more information.
Human Resources & Payroll (HRP) by TechnologyOne is a purpose-built solution that automates and simplifies workforce management, payroll processing, and compliance reporting.
It ensures accurate employee payments, eliminates manual data entry, and enhances payroll efficiency with self-service capabilities.
HRP is hosted on a secure SaaS+ platform with advanced security protocols, protecting sensitive data and ensuring compliance with government standards.
Whether it’s processing payroll, managing employee data, or ensuring regulatory compliance, Human Resources & Payroll leverages TechnologyOne’s 37 years of unique domain experience to serve the following industries with custom-made solutions:
Unlike standalone payroll tools, Human Resources & Payroll is fully integrated with the broader ERP suite. It connects payroll with finance, budgeting, and HR processes, enabling greater visibility, automation, and real-time reporting across the organisation.
SaaS+ is TechnologyOne’s all-inclusive offering, specifically tailored for the industries we serve. With SaaS+, implementation, support, and upgrade costs are included, with TechnologyOne taking full ownership of the outcome of the solution experience, not just the software.
For more details, visit the SaaS+ information page .
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software is a system that integrates and manages core business processes such as finance, human resources, supply chain, and customer relationship management into a single platform.
