Fair Work Ombudsman
Citation: FWO-2023-06-09-suncorp-eu-media-release
At a glance
- Penalty
- $32,000,000
- Employees affected
- 15800
What happened
Suncorp Staff Pty Ltd, Suncorp Insurance Services Limited and AAMI (together Suncorp) signed an Enforceable Undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman after back-paying about $32 million to more than 15,800 employees in the insurance arm of the business. Underpayments occurred between May 2014 and March 2022. The cause was inconsistent application of the term 'Rostered Employee' in Suncorp's enterprise agreements, plus misunderstandings of entitlements tied to a self-service process. Affected entitlements included overtime, shift loadings, weekend penalties, annual leave loading, public holiday loadings, long service leave, redundancy, payment in lieu of notice and superannuation.
What was decided
Suncorp self-reported the breaches in 2020 and signed an Enforceable Undertaking with the FWO. The $32 million figure is remediation plus interest and superannuation, not a civil penalty. Suncorp agreed to a package of compliance measures under the EU.
What it means for employers
If an enterprise agreement has a category like 'Rostered Employee' tied to shift penalties, the definition must be applied consistently across payroll, with clear training and audit. Self-service time entry without reconciliation back to EA clauses can systematically underpay shift and penalty entitlements. The fix is automated cross-checks, not reliance on managers or individual staff to know their own entitlements.
What it means for employees
If you worked in the insurance arm of Suncorp or AAMI between 2014 and 2022 under an enterprise agreement, your shift penalties, overtime, weekend penalties, leave loading or superannuation may have been underpaid. Suncorp has been contacting affected staff. If you have not heard from them and think you may be owed, contact Suncorp or the FWO on 13 13 94.
Every statement above is drawn from the published decision. Read the original here:
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/2023-media-releases/june-2023/20230609-suncorp-eu-media-releaseWant more cases like this?
FairWork Mate tracks Fair Work Ombudsman, Fair Work Commission and Federal Court decisions across Australia. The full dataset, with structured fields for awards cited, industry, penalty amounts and affected employee counts, is available through the Business API. FairWork Mate AI answers plain-English questions grounded on the full corpus.
Individual case summaries on this site are free. API + AI access is a paid product. Contact us for pricing or a 50% off first month.
Get notified on new Fair Work cases
Free email alerts when we publish new underpayment decisions, penalty orders, and workplace law updates.
Free forever. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
This summary was drafted by AI from the published decision and reviewed before publishing. It is general information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, speak to the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) or a qualified lawyer. About these summaries & corrections →