Sunnyfield Underpaid 1,767 Disability Workers $5.43M: How to Check Your SCHADS Pay Point

On 14 October 2026 the Fair Work Ombudsman announced that Sunnyfield, an NDIS-registered charity providing supported independent living, specialist disability accommodation and lifestyle programs across NSW, had signed an Enforceable Undertaking after underpaying 1,767 current and former employees about $5.43 million (including superannuation and interest) between 2018 and 2024.

The cause was not a missing penalty rate or a wrong award. It was pay point progression: staff who should have moved up to the next pay point within their classification level under the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (SCHADS Award) and the organisation's enterprise agreement were not moved, or were moved inconsistently. Because the base rate was too low, everything built on it was too low as well: casual loading, weekend penalties, overtime, shiftwork penalties, annual leave, personal leave, community service leave and public holiday pay.

Figure	Detail
Total underpayment	About $5.43 million including super and interest
Employees affected	1,767 current and former, 2018 to 2024
Already back-paid	$5.36 million to 1,633 people ($4.47 million wages and entitlements, nearly $900,000 super and interest)
Still outstanding	Just over $78,500 for 134 former employees not yet located
Largest individual underpayment	$23,378 (including super and interest)
Average underpayment	$3,078
Roles affected	Community support workers, service coordinators, team leaders, service managers (full-time, part-time and casual)

Sunnyfield self-reported in October 2024 after an external payroll audit, cooperated with the investigation and has back-paid everyone it could find. That is why the outcome is an undertaking rather than court penalties. Under the EU it must run two independent audits, improve the ways workers can raise concerns, train managers in workplace relations and strengthen board oversight of compliance. Source: Fair Work Ombudsman media release, 14 October 2026; the undertaking is listed on the FWO's 2026–27 enforceable undertakings page.

Most SCHADS classifications have several pay points inside each level. A Social and community services employee level 2, for example, has four pay points; level 3 has four; level 5 has three. Each pay point is a higher weekly rate. You start at a pay point when you are classified, and you are meant to move up within the level over time.

The rule is in clause 13.3 of the award. At the end of each 12 months' continuous employment, an employee is eligible to move from one pay point to the next within their level if they have shown competency and satisfactory performance over at least 12 months at that pay point and either:

• they have acquired and satisfactorily used new or enhanced skills within the classification, if the employer requires that; or
• the employer runs a staff development and performance appraisal scheme and has found the employee's performance satisfactory for the prior 12 months.

Movement to a higher level is different: that only happens by promotion or reclassification (clause 13.3(b)). Progression within a level is the routine, anniversary-based step that payroll systems most often miss, especially for part-time and casual staff whose 12 months of continuous employment is harder to track. Source: SCHADS Award MA000100, clauses 13 and 15–17.

If your employer has an enterprise agreement, the agreement's progression clause applies instead of, or on top of, the award, but it cannot leave you worse off overall than the award. Sunnyfield's problem was that the award and the agreement were applied inconsistently to different groups of staff.

1. Find your classification on your payslip or contract. It should name the level and pay point, for example "SACS Level 2 Pay Point 2" or "Home care employee level 3 pay point 1". If it only shows a level, ask payroll which pay point you are on. Employers must tell you your classification when you start and whenever it changes (clause 13.2).
2. Count your anniversaries. Each 12 months of continuous employment at a pay point is a potential step up. Three years in the same level with no movement is the pattern the FWO found at Sunnyfield.
3. Compare your base hourly rate with the current award rate for the pay point you should be on. Our SCHADS pay rates page lists the current rates by level and pay point, and the disability support worker pay page covers the home care disability stream.
4. Check the flow-on. If your base rate is wrong, your penalty rates, overtime, leave loading and super are wrong too. The payslip checker and the roster-to-payslip reconciler do that arithmetic from your roster and payslip.
5. Work out the back pay. Underpayments can be recovered for up to six years. The underpayment claim builder turns the difference into a dated claim.

Two things to keep in mind. Progression under clause 13.3 is not automatic in every case: the employer can require you to have picked up new skills, or can run an appraisal scheme. But an employer that has never assessed anyone, never told staff the criteria and never moved anyone up is not applying the clause. And the 1 December 2026 interim increase for disability home care workers under Schedule E is a separate change that sits on top of whichever pay point you are on. See SCHADS 15% disability pay rise delayed to 1 December 2026.

1. Ask in writing. Email your manager or payroll: your start date, your classification, the pay point you are on and the pay point you believe you should be on, and ask for a written explanation under clause 13.3 of the SCHADS Award.
2. Keep the evidence. Payslips, your contract, any performance reviews, and any email in which new duties or skills were assigned to you.
3. Escalate if it is not fixed. The Fair Work Ombudsman has made the disability support sector a priority and is running a sector-wide inquiry into non-compliance. Its disability support and aged care services help page is the starting point, and workplace issues can be reported to the FWO anonymously.
4. If you no longer work there, you can still claim. Sunnyfield is holding $78,500 for 134 former staff it cannot find. If you worked there between 2018 and 2024, contact the organisation.

For employers under SCHADS: the FWO's message in this case is that long-standing payroll practice is not evidence of compliance. Build a pay point anniversary report into payroll, record the clause 13.3 assessment for every employee each year, and audit the enterprise agreement against the award whenever either changes. The My Workplace dashboard tracks award rate changes for the classifications you tell it about.