St Vincent’s Health Australia undertook a review of its payroll systems and processes in late 2021 and determined that St Vincent’s Private Hospitals Ltd, St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney Limited, St Vincent’s Private Hospital Sydney and St Vincent’s Care Services Ltd contravened the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) by failing to correctly apply some terms of its current and past enterprise agreements to some of its employees. 

Specifically, these errors related to:

• For some employees within our private hospitals: the misapplication of Service Allowance and Leave Loading entitlements;

• For some casual nursing employees within our public and private hospitals: the non-payment of overtime; and

• For some shift workers in St Vincent’s Care Services: not properly crediting additional annual leave entitlements.

On 5 July 2021, St Vincent’s Health Australia formally acknowledged to the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) that contraventions of Agreements had occurred and consequently a number of employees had been underpaid.  In addition, it took the necessary steps to contact impacted employees, where possible, and rectify the errors identified. 

St Vincent’s Health Australia has now entered into an Enforceable Undertaking with the FWO to ensure its ongoing compliance with Commonwealth workplace laws. 

As a result of this undertaking, St Vincent’s Health Australia will commit to a number of activities to ensure its ongoing compliance such as, conducting an independent audit and rectifying any issues identified as part of the audit. 

If you worked for St Vincent’s Health Australia during the period 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2020 and were impacted by these issues, and have related queries or questions, you can contact KPMG on a confidential basis by emailing AU-FMNATFairCall@kpmg.com.au or calling the hotline (available from Monday 29 January 2024) on 1800 297 039. You can also contact your local payroll team.

Alternatively, anyone can contact the FWO via www.fairwork.gov.au or on 13 13 94.