Questacon's underpayment of workers surprising for what should be ‘model employer’, says expert

Revelations that a federal government department has been underpaying workers at Canberra’s Questacon are “surprising” for what should be a “model employer”, according to a leading employment law expert.

The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) uncovered what it called “systemic underpayment issues” of staff at the interactive science museum since mid-2023, including thousands of dollars not paid for casual staff overtime, minimum shift duration and fire warden duties.

The Federal Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, which operates Questacon, has apologised for its mistakes and told Region it has “commenced making remediation payments”.

Dr Giuseppe Carabetta, an associate professor of employment law at the University of Technology Sydney, says this case is not typical of the so-called “wage theft” cases we tend to hear about.

“On first blush, it does seem surprising that a public agency, which you’d expect to be fairly centralised and organised and work under one main industrial instrument, could get it wrong,” he said.

“It seems surprising against the ‘typical’ [underpayment] case we all know about: casual, shift, migrant, factory workers, and typical sectors such as retail and hospitality.”

Dr Carabetta speculated on how the Questacon underpayments may have happened.

“It’s been reported that staff are required to travel around the country working long and irregular hours. The latter might explain it – the irregularity of hours and different rates that need to be applied, which can get complicated ‘on the run’.

“It might also be a reporting issue between workers, supervisors and those formally responsible for payroll – or even a glitch from the payroll end.

“The fact it has apparently continued for so long, though, is also surprising for a public sector agency and where you’d expect the government to be acting as a model employer and is one focussed on addressing the issue of wage theft, so-called. It’s not a great look.”

According to the CPSU, members at Questacon began to report potential instances of underpayment in mid-2023.

From there, the union kicked off a worker consultation campaign that uncovered what it called widespread cases of underpayment. This led to the commencement of a formal investigation.

The initial investigation was into overtime underpayments, but it was then discovered that employees were not correctly paid for undertaking the role of fire warden, and Questacon subsequently commenced paying staff what they were owed.

Employees receiving their back pay for the unpaid fire warden allowance will be receiving up to $1892, along with interest and superannuation, the CPSU said.

“From our own investigation and work with employees, it is clear to the union that this is a case of systemic underpayment and not a one-off mistake,” CPSU Deputy Secretary Beth Vincent-Pietsch said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Industry, Science and Resources said the department “moved quickly to establish a dedicated working group to resolve the issues promptly”.

“The Department is sorry this has occurred and is consulting regularly with affected staff and the CPSU … issues have since been addressed in the new departmental Enterprise Agreement, which commenced in April 2024.”

The department did not answer questions from Region on how much in total it had underpaid Questacon staff and when it would fully repay all amounts owed.

The CPSU also declined to answer our question on whether it was satisfied with the department’s actions to resolve the issues.

If you know more about this story, contact ojacques@region.com.au.