Staff at Sydney Water, the government-owned utility serving Sydney, have accused senior executives of mishandling a botched payroll software rollout that has left workers underpaid or unpaid for two months, prompting a union to demand the executives be stood down without pay. The Australian Services Union says the disruption has forced low-paid staff to choose between rent and childcare, and has reported several threatened suicide attempts and instances of self-harm linked to the crisis, underscoring the severe human cost of the IT failure.

The problems stem from Sydney Water's roll-out of the Dayforce workforce management system on 1 July, part of a nearly $40million transformation project delivered with consultancy Deloitte, replacing a 40-year-old payroll system across the utility's 4,885 staff. All four pay cycles since launch have been bungled, sparking four separate legal actions and a planned protected industrial action ballot, while a union letter names managing director Darren Cleary, chairperson Niall Blair, and two other executives, alleging warnings about the software were dismissed as "fearmongering" and that some managers sought to "deny and disguise" the truth; NSW Water Minister Rose Jackson said she was "incredibly disappointed" with the utility.