RBA apologises to staff for underpayments: report

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) employees have received an apology from the institution after it was found that they were underpaid by the central bank, according to reports.

The Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported that former and current staff of the central bank received an email on Monday containing the company's apology about underpayment.

"We take paying our people correctly very seriously, and we are sorry that these issues have occurred," the email said as quoted by the AFR.

According to the report, potentially affected employees include former and current staff since January 2016.  The bank, however, did not disclose how many employees could be affected and how much the back payments would cost.

The RBA said it had issues with how it paid out annual leave, long service leave, and rostered days off, the AFR reported.

There were also "discrete instances" when the base rates for some flexible workers were not always maintained, according to the report.

RBA deputy government Michele Bullock previously attributed the underpayments as the "result of the complicated nature of our industrial arrangements and their interpretation," the AFR reported, citing an internal email in November.

PwC hired for review

The central bank said in its latest email that it has hired PwC to help in reviewing the underpayments.

"While we are working to complete this review as quickly as possible, it is still ongoing," the RBA also said, as quoted by the AFR.

The report comes ahead of an independent review on the RBA that set to be released over the "next couple of weeks," Bloomberg reported.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the review have "51 specific recommendations" that will require changes to legislation.

"What you'll see when you see the 51 specific recommendations, and you read through the rationale for it, is that there's a role for government, there's a role for the Reserve Bank and its board, there's a role for legislation," Chalmers said as quoted by Bloomberg.

The report also came ahead of Australia's proposed second tranche of workplace reforms, which include fines of up to $4 million for serious cases of wage theft.

There have been numerous cases of underpayments in Australia that are dealt with by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

In 2022, the FWO cited two Australian universities which collective owed their staff almost $10 million.

In 2021, the FWO also took legal action against Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd for allegedly underpaying more than 7,500 employees.