One of Australia’s largest banks has acknowledged that almost 66,000 current and former employees were underpaid over a period spanning 14 years.
National Australia Bank (NAB) has repaid most of the $169 million owed to staff, including interest and superannuation.
The Big Four bank underpaid casual, part-time and full-time employees in every state and territory, with the errors continuing as recently as this year. According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, the problems date back to 2012.
Those affected worked across a wide range of personal and business banking roles.
The average repayment was $1,934, although one employee was owed more than $87,000.
NAB first reported the underpayments to the Fair Work Ombudsman in late 2019, after discovering significant mistakes in the implementation of its then-current enterprise agreement.
That disclosure led to a wide-ranging review of employee entitlements, which uncovered compliance problems stretching back to 2012.
A further review conducted in 2024 found that employees were still being underpaid because the underlying issues had not been fully resolved.
NAB has repaid at least $155 million owed to affected current and former employees
The causes included weaknesses in governance and compliance oversight, poor record-keeping, outdated payroll technology and insufficient investment in payroll expertise.
NAB has so far repaid at least $155 million. That includes more than $120 million in unpaid wages and entitlements, $25 million in interest and over $8 million in applicable superannuation.
The bank has also signed an enforceable undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman to supervise the repayment process.
As part of the agreement, NAB will make a $2 million contrition payment to the Commonwealth Consolidated Revenue Fund—the largest payment ever included in an executed enforceable undertaking.
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‘NAB’s underpayments demonstrate the serious and long-running problems that can occur when an employer fails to coordinate essential business functions, including payroll, industrial relations, technology, risk management, audit and legal,’ Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said.
‘It is particularly disappointing to see such significant and prolonged underpayment issues at a well-resourced employer that negotiated its own legally enforceable enterprise agreement, yet failed to ensure it had fully compliant payroll systems capable of applying those terms before they took effect.’
Ms Booth welcomed NAB’s extensive efforts and years of reviews to correct the underpayments.
‘The enforceable undertaking provides for comprehensive remediation, including periods well beyond the statutory limits, along with stronger accountability and ongoing compliance measures,’ Ms Booth said.
‘It is particularly disappointing to see such significant and prolonged underpayment issues at a well-resourced employer,’ Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said
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NAB said it regretted the errors and was improving its employee systems and payroll platforms.
‘We take our payroll obligations extremely seriously because they are a fundamental part of employing people. We sincerely apologise for these unintended errors,’ NAB group executive of people and culture Sarah White said.
‘We have remediated, and will continue to remediate, anyone who has been affected.’
The disclosure came on the same day Commonwealth Bank was accused of overcharging tens of thousands of customers millions of dollars in fees.
The corporate financial services watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, alleges that about 42,000 CommBiz customers were overcharged approximately $8.5 million in fees between November 2020 and May 31, 2025.
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