Most of the 908 people Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment shorted over the years were out less than $1,000. Seven hundred and forty-four of them were. Another 127 lost more than that.
The department, known as NRE, estimates the total underpayment at about $470,000, according to the ABC. It says it is fixing the error and has apologised to staff.
Secretary Jason Jacobi told staff in an all-staff webinar earlier this month that the cause was a misunderstanding of the award entitlement for overtime. Because the shortfalls were small and built up pay cycle after pay cycle, most people probably never noticed. “[They] were not identified or quantified by affected staff, supervisors or payroll team until now,” he said. Initial auditing found 515 former staff and 393 current staff affected.
“No-one is to blame here,” Jacobi said. He called it “a systematic administrative issue that has come about through people misinterpreting the awards and incorrectly applying that to their time sheets over many years.”
Overpayments too
Some workers were also paid too much. Jacobi told the webinar that some staff were overpaid, some underpaid and some both, but he gave no figure. An NRE spokesperson said the overpayments have yet to be confirmed and will be handled in a separate audit.
The Community and Public Sector Union says the number of overpaid workers is the same or higher than the number underpaid. Secretary Thirza White said the union was advised that each side comes to about half a million dollars. She said the union had been told the audit reaches back five years, though the problem may be older.
“It’s a great big mess that’s going to take quite considerable time and effort now to sort,” White said. “This is money that should’ve been in people’s pockets for the last five years in a cost of living crisis.” No employee could have caught it themselves, she added: “It’s a systems issue that’s the fault of NRE Tas.”
The union wants the overpayments wiped. “No worker should be put into financial stress because of a problem with how their pay was processed over many years,” White said. The union has been given no detail on how the department plans to treat overpaid staff. She said the union cannot fault the process so far, but it was not consulted and will need to examine the award interpretation itself.
The fix and the timeline
Jacobi told the ABC the errors came to light in routine audits and business improvement work. In a statement he said the department “is committed to ensuring all employees are paid correctly for the work they perform.” System and process changes are due to show up in the 29 July 2026 pay run.
Information sessions for affected staff will run in mid-July. Financial calculations for underpayments should be updated and validated by the end of August. Repayments, including superannuation and applicable interest, are to be scheduled between September and December.
White said the episode should warn the state service, which plans to cut 1,700 public sector jobs by 2029-30. “It’s a real example of the cost of not investing in back-line functions,” she said. The department did not respond to questions about when it discovered the problem.
