Wage Compliance Update
Important Message from Lynette McKeown, Chief Executive Officer
On 11 April 2024, Mosaic announced that it had discovered historic payroll issues and self-reported to the Fair Work Ombudsman. You can read the initial announcement and FAQs here: Media Release — Mosaic Support Services
It is important to Mosaic that we keep our employees up to date and we now have more information to share with you. This update includes details about
The complex process of calculating the pay liability for each individual employee.
That there will be a delay with the calculation of overpayments and underpayments for Sleepover shifts under the Mosaic 2022 Enterprise Agreement (EA 2022) (see our previous update on Sleepover shifts back in November here) as HACSU has raised a dispute with the Fair Work Commission regarding the rostering of Sleepover Shifts under EA 2022. Until this dispute is resolved, Mosaic will be unable to finalise the pay liability for each individual employee.
Key Steps and Timing – Payroll Review Project
It is vital for our employees that Mosaic calculates the historic employee entitlements correctly. Although the pay review team have been working actively to resolve the calculations, the process has been significantly more complicated than expected which has pushed out the previously communicated timelines.
To make sure that each employee receives their accurate entitlement as quickly as possible, since our last communication we have:
Continued to work with our external advisors to test the calculations of employee entitlements based on the STAR Enterprise Agreement.
Worked with our external advisors to understand the data requirements for the calculation model, including reviewing a large number of manual pay adjustments across both Mosaic EAs (2019 and 2022).
Met with the Fair Work Ombudsman in February 2025 to provide details of our progress and discussed challenges we experienced with the calculations and data.
Our next steps are as follows:
Continue working through the manual pay adjustments across both Mosaic EAs to ensure the correct shift information is included in the testing model.
Work with our external advisors to start testing the calculations of employee entitlements calculated by the model for the Mosaic 2019 Enterprise Agreement.
Following resolution of the below dispute on sleepover shifts rostering, begin testing the calculation of employee entitlements calculated by the model for the Mosaic 2022 Enterprise Agreement.
Once we have confirmed the calculation, the model will be audited by an external party.
Once this work is completed, we will have a clear understanding of the pay liability for each individual employee. We will then begin making payments to current and past employees.
Because several elements of this project are outside our direct control, we do not have a specific timeline for the completion of these steps. To address this, we are doing everything we can to move quickly, accurately and fairly. We are also committed to providing ongoing updates so that you can stay up to date and well informed.
Sleepover Shifts
In November, we shared an update about how sleepover shifts were being handled. We also confirmed that from 4 November 2024 Mosaic would revert to the way these shifts were handled previously. (See Historic Pay Review Update — Mosaic Support Services)
In February 2025, HACSU raised a dispute with Mosaic about how sleepover shifts are being rostered under the current Mosaic 2022 Enterprise Agreement.
Whilst HACSU has confirmed that they agree with Mosaic's previous approach to rostering sleepover shifts under both the STAR Enterprise Agreement and the Mosaic 2019 Enterprise Agreement, they disagree with the rostering practices under EA 2022.
The dispute was unable to be resolved at conciliation and will now be the subject of a Fair Work Commission hearing later in the year.
As the hearing is a legal dispute regarding the interpretation of an industrial instrument, Mosaic and HACSU have both needed to engage lawyers to represent them before the Fair Work Commission.
Until this dispute is resolved, Mosaic will be unable to finalise the pay liability for each individual employee.
SUPPORT
We recognise that this may be a difficult time for you. If you’d like to talk to someone, you can contact our free employee assistance provider, Newport & Wildman, on 1800 650 204.
If you have any questions about this update, then you can contact a member of our dedicated Pay Review Team at payreview@mosaictas.org.au
We appreciate your patience as we continue to work through the above steps.