The review was initiated by the University and covered the last six years - from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2021.

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A union spokesperson said the review revealed La Trobe had in fact breached its enterprise agreement and statutory obligations to those staff members during that time.

They said there were several ways the University did this including withholding $400,000 from academic casual staff by incorrectly applying the "standard" vs "repeat" lecture and tutorial rate.

National Tertiary Education Union Victorian Division assistant secretary Sarah Roberts said it is a win for the union and its members, but the matter is far from over.

"Millions of dollars will now be back paid to workers due to the hardworking NTEU members who relentlessly raised their concerns," she said.

"We are disappointed the University has failed to reconcile underpayments for piece-rates despite having more than 12 months to figure it out.

"Universities across Australia are on notice. The NTEU has recovered almost $30 million in underpayments so far and we won't stop until all staff are paid what they are owed."

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La Trobe University vice chancellor John Dewar released an apology on behalf of the University to all staff who had been underpaid.

He said the review had identified a number of casual staff in some areas who have been underpaid owing to inefficient systems and processes.

"We are very disappointed by these findings and sincerely apologise to all affected staff," he said.

"Our first priority now is to pay all identified current casual staff who have been underpaid up until the end of June, and this will happen by December 31."

The University is also contacting casual staff from the last six years who no longer work for La Trobe and who may have also been paid incorrectly.

"A second payment will be made in March next year and this will cover any identified underpayments for the remainder of 2021," Mr Dewar said.

"It will also cover further amounts owed for marking, a detailed assessment of which is being currently undertaken.

"We estimate the second payment will be in the region of $2.5 million, with the final figure to be confirmed next year."

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NTEU La Trobe Branch president Alysia Rex said the outcome was a result of the tireless efforts of union members raising multiple instances of wage theft to HR in September 2020 on behalf of members.

The union became aware of the payment discrepancies after conducting what "wage theft survey" earlier in 2020.

"La Trobe has only now admitted to large-scale wage theft after spending the last 12 months trying to ignore our claims," Ms Rex said.

"In response, management agreed to set up a working group to ascertain and undertake preliminary investigation but after a month, we were told there was no problem and there was 'nothing to see here'.

"We will continue to fight on behalf of our members for the wages and conditions they deserve."

Mr Dewar said La Trobe University was working on simplifying and automating their systems and processes to ensure accurate payments to casual staff and to avoid any future errors.

"This includes an improved induction and on-boarding program for casual staff to ensure they are aware of the correct payment structures; and improved technology to remove the chances of human error," he said.

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"We continue to also review the time allocated for marking for each discipline to ensure fairness across disciplines so staff are compensated for their time and effort appropriately.

"We will also continue to review and monitor our payments systems and processes on a regular basis and we have improved our systems for reporting and escalating any potential payment issues."

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