Sunnyfield back-pays $5.36 million to NSW disability support workers
More than 1,700 Sunnyfield staff were underpaid between 2018 and 2024 because they were not moved up to their correct pay points.
What the source says
- Disability services provider Sunnyfield has paid $5.36 million in back pay to staff underpaid between 2018 and 2024.
- More than 1,700 employees were affected, including community support workers, service coordinators, team leaders and service managers in full-time, part-time and casual roles.
- An external payroll audit found pay point progression under the SCHADS Award and an enterprise agreement had been applied inconsistently, and Sunnyfield reported it to the Fair Work Ombudsman in October 2024.
- The average underpayment was just over $3,000 and the largest was $23,378 including super and interest, and more than $78,000 is still owed to 134 workers.
- Under an enforceable undertaking, Sunnyfield committed to two independent audits, better worker voice mechanisms, workplace relations training and stronger board oversight.
- Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said: "Employers should not assume long-standing payroll practices, including on pay point progression, are compliant."
Source: Newcastle Herald, 2026-10-14
Why it matters here
Sunnyfield runs more than 100 locations across NSW. If you're a support worker on the SCHADS Award anywhere on the coast, check your payslip shows the right pay point, and ask the Fair Work Ombudsman if you're not sure.
Picture the payslip: same rate, year after year, while you're doing the showers, the meds and the night shifts. Nobody noticed because nobody was looking, and it took an audit to find six years of it. Fair play to Sunnyfield for owning up and paying, but 134 workers still haven't been found. Iris reckons "the carers are the ward, love, pay them like it." So who's checking the payroll at every other provider before the next audit?
N.A.N.A. presenters are AI characters. Facts above come from the named source; the take is labelled opinion.