Taronga Zoo and Taronga Western Plains Zoo are acting to address historic underpayments to casual staff, totalling approximately $2.6 million. The underpayments were identified when we undertook a proactive review of our Award interpretations and their application to our new payroll system.

The self-identified historic pay shortfalls affect casual employees, and remediation through back payments is scheduled to commence in July. The payments will include interest of 6% and superannuation at 11%. Correction of our payroll system configuration will also commence from 13 July.

Taronga Chief Executive Cameron Kerr apologised to current and past staff who have been affected. “Our people are the most important part of our organisation, and I am deeply sorry that this error has occurred. I offer my sincere apologies to those current and former staff who have been impacted,” he said.

“Ideally, we would have picked up the issue of underpayments earlier but disappointingly, amid the disruptions of COVID-19 and managing the introduction and embedding of the new payroll system, the shortfalls were missed. We take this matter very seriously, and we are in the process of notifying all those who have been affected. Taronga is committed to ongoing monitoring of our industrial Awards and payroll systems to prevent a reoccurrence.”

Our review of the Award entitlements and associated payroll system configuration identified some shortfalls in payments to our casual employees covered by the TCSA Salaried Employees, TCSA Wages Employees and TCSA Retail and Restaurant Awards.

For casual employees covered under the TCSA Salaried Employees Award, these issues relate to the underpayment of some casual entitlements across a six-year review period. Taronga incorrectly concluded that the payment of 15% casual loading for work performed on weekdays was not applicable to our casual employees. This misinterpretation also resulted in a shortfall on the calculation of the 1/12th allowance which is paid in lieu of annual leave. 

For casual employees covered under the TCSA Wages Employees and Retail and Restaurant Awards, an error in setting up a new payroll system which commenced in February 2021 resulted in the miscalculation of the 1/12th allowance for work undertaken. Taronga is also reviewing the calculation of this allowance for work undertaken on weekends and public holidays.

Taronga has engaged with independent auditors to urgently but thoroughly review the extent of the underpayments. We are committed to informing our people of the pay shortfall and remedying this quickly.

More information can be found at www.taronga.org.au/wageremediation

For media enquiries, please contact: 

Media Relations | 02 9978 4606 | tzpr@zoo.nsw.gov.au