Verified and updated: November 12, 2026, 6:07 a.m. UTC (7:07 a.m. AEDT).
National Australia Bank has signed an enforceable undertaking with Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) after admitting workplace-law contraventions that led to underpayments for 65,999 current and former employees. The bank’s remediation totals about A$170 million: A$127 million in wages and entitlements, A$34 million in interest, and A$8 million in superannuation. It will also make a separate A$2 million contrition payment to the Commonwealth, the largest of its kind included in an FWO undertaking.
The agreement’s significance extends beyond repayment. NAB must finish its payroll review, strengthen controls and reporting, and have an independent auditor assess its replacement payroll platform. The FWO says most identified shortfalls have been rectified, but the review remains underway. This is the latest confirmed development in a remediation process that began after NAB reported payroll problems in 2019.
The FWO announced the undertaking on November 12, 2026. NAB’s notice says it admitted contraventions involving provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009, the National Employment Standards, and the bank’s 2011, 2014, 2016, and 2024 enterprise agreements. The affected entitlements included ordinary wages, penalty rates, shift loadings, overtime, allowances, termination payments, leave, public-holiday pay, and superannuation.
The undertaking formalizes commitments intended to complete remediation and reduce the risk of another systemic failure. NAB must complete its payroll review and address additional underpayments found. It must also introduce a new payroll platform and time-recording process, with independent audits of the platform and audit findings reported to the FWO.
A further notable term puts future agreement implementation under earlier, senior oversight. A steering committee chaired by NAB’s Group Executive People and Culture is to oversee planning and operationalization of new enterprise agreements, including whether systems and processes can deliver the agreement’s requirements. The FWO describes this planning commitment as a first for one of its undertakings.
According to the FWO, NAB first self-reported underpayments in late 2019 after finding significant errors in how it had implemented an enterprise agreement. A broader review identified issues reaching back to 2012. When a new agreement was being implemented in 2024, the bank found that earlier review and remediation work had not identified and corrected all noncompliance.
The FWO points to shortcomings in governance and compliance oversight, inadequate record-keeping, legacy payroll technology, and limited specialist payroll capability. It also identifies missed reconciliation checks, incomplete time-and-attendance data, leave-accrual errors, and incorrect application of terms across successive agreements. These are the regulator’s stated findings; the public announcement does not attribute the problem to a single software fault.
Underpayments affected full-time, part-time, and casual staff in roles across personal and business banking. The FWO reports individual back-payments from less than A$5 to more than A$87,000, with an average of about A$1,934. The wide range reflects differences in work patterns and entitlements, and does not indicate what any particular worker should receive.
Alongside completing remediation and replacing payroll systems, NAB has agreed to improve how it tracks employee complaints, identify patterns that could signal emerging noncompliance, and monitor complaints through to resolution. It must provide the FWO with information about these improvements and establish regular board reporting on compliance matters. The undertaking also includes staff forums and promotion of channels employees can use to raise concerns, as well as mandatory training on recording additional hours and implementing a replacement agreement.
The regulator says NAB had paid at least A$155 million to current and former employees by the time of its announcement, including more than A$120 million in wages and entitlements, more than A$25 million in interest, and over A$8 million in superannuation. Those figures are a progress update, not confirmation that every eligible person has been paid. NAB says it will notify affected employees if it has not already done so, regardless of the amount involved. Workers who cannot be located are to have their entitlements paid into the Commonwealth’s unclaimed monies account.
Workers who think they may be affected can contact NAB at Payroll.Remediation@nab.com.au or ask the FWO for assistance at fairwork.gov.au or on 13 13 94. The FWO announcement and NAB notice are the primary sources for the figures and commitments in this report: the FWO’s November 12 announcement and NAB’s undertaking notice.
The FWO says 65,999 current and former employees were affected by underpayments dating from October 2012 to 2026.
No. The FWO reported that NAB had paid at least A$155 million and rectified the large majority of identified underpayments, while the broader review and remediation program continued.
It is a contrition payment to the Commonwealth Consolidated Revenue Fund under the undertaking. It is separate from repayments, interest, and superannuation owed to workers.
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