The Fair Work Ombudsman says they should – but gosh, how to encourage them to get more involved
In a letter to Accord chief Mary O’Kane, tabled in the Senate’s Employment and Workplace Relations Committee, Deputy FWO Rachel Volzke suggests a process. (Thanks to the learned Claire Field for the pointer).
Ms Volzke raises the role of university governing bodies and suggests things they could look at.
good-governance requirements on staff pay, including;
* “a direct line of sight between what occurs at a workplace level and at a corporate governance level”
* payroll compliance regularly considered by internal audit
* regular notification of compliance risk at school level
* “priority being given to fixing problems when they are identified, rather than allowing them to continue until broader reviews or upgrades are conducted“
* IR functions not quarantined from payroll function
And then there is an issue to address that is alarming that it needs be raised;
“remuneration structures where non-compliance is not indirectly incentivised, for example, not rewarding meeting labour budgets where the work required to be done objectively requires more human effort than budgeted leading to an increased likelihood of non-payment of hours worked or overtime”
and necessary support for international students
“There is the opportunity for many universities to do more to increase awareness of international students’ workplace rights, particularly as universities are the main point of contact and support for international students in Australia”
good-o but how to get councils off their coccyxs?
Ms Volzke suggests a context for the Accord team to encourage governing bodies to act, “universities’ obligations under the Threshold Standards and general requirements for good corporate governance.”
“What,” you ask, “the threshold standards set out in the Commonwealth’s Higher Education Standards Framework?”
“Those are the ones,” CMM replies.
“You mean the standards overseen by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency?” you add. “The very same” says CMM.
TEQSA has hammered universities over-performance on pay for years.
But it appears the FWO would like Professor O’Kane and colleagues to demand the agency hammer unis harder.