Education Support Staff salaries and classifications: getting it right!

For too long, many Education Support Staff have languished on classification levels that do not reflect their role, tasks, and responsibilities. We’ve been working hard to fix this.

In many cases, the employer ignores an employee’s qualifications as well as their capacity, skills, experience, and knowledge, and even their actual daily work. In the Victorian Catholic sector, many years of work by IEU Organisers and Reps to support reclassification applications has gone a long way to address this, and the restructure in the proposed Agreement is another huge step forward.

Under the proposed Victorian Catholic Agreement, all existing employees at Level 1 are moved to Level 2 (with Level 1 effectively becoming a trainee level). Not only has this significantly increased salaries for those previously classified at Level 1, it provides a meaningful career structure in which they will continue to increment to higher pay points with each year of experience.

However, there is always more to do!

Sam Wallman’s take on Education Support Staff.

Recently, in several schools we have pursued the employer for misclassification of staff rather than making a request for reclassification. The difference between the two is essentially this:

Reclassification should occur when there is a change to an employee’s role, qualifications, or other relevant factor. It assumes that the employee’s previous classification level had been correct prior to the change, and that backpay at a higher rate only needs to be made to the date that the reclassification request was initially made.

On the other hand, where we believe that there is a strong argument that a member has been under-classified for an extended period of time (for example if they have been classified at Level 1 while being expected to supervise students alone), we can support them in making a misclassification claim for historical backpay for up to 6 years.

Misclassification also leads to staff missing out on annual progressions up the salary scale to which they would have been entitled had they been correctly classified. The IEU ensures that this is factored in when back-pay is calculated – this can add up to a significant sum!

For example, an employee classified at the top of Level 1 in 2022 translated across to Level 2-3 in the new pay scale. However, if they had been performing Level 2 duties for several years, they would instead be at Level 2-8 in the new scale. This is a large difference in wages, particularly when the cumulative effect is considered over a period of years.

The union has won redress from many employers for shocking misclassifications.

If you were on Level 1 before the translation to the new scale and have any doubts about whether this was legitimate, get in touch with your Organiser.

Breaking News: The IEU have negotiated with Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools around the misclassification of four LSOs at St Matthews Fawkner. The settlement will include back-pay as well as advanced incremental progression to reflect where they would be in the new pay scale had they been classified correctly. This was a long process, but we got there in the end. These members stood firm, stuck together and won! This is what can happen when members back each other and fight for what is right.

Incrementing vs translation and fixed-term contracts

There are some employers who seem confused in relation to when incrementation should occur with big implications for members.

In October last year, when the new pay scale was adopted in Victorian Catholic schools, Education Support Staff also translated to a new level. Some payroll administration staff have been incorrectly advised by employers that the translation that occurred last year was an increment and that, as a result, ongoing staff are not entitled to an increment in May 2023.

The May increment applies only to ongoing staff. Those employed on fixed-term contracts are entitled to a salary assessment at the commencement of each new contract (in most cases at the start of each school year), and if they meet the experience requirements, will progress to the next increment immediately.  

Given the concerns that have been raised in relation to confusion about incrementation, the IEU through our regular meeting with Shared Services have sought assurances and sharing of data to ensure that ES staff have been properly assessed and incremented, with appropriate backpay of any entitlements provided.

Revamp of the classification structure for the next Victorian Catholic Agreement

We are committed to continuing to work closely with Education Support Staff and School Services Officers to ensure the classification structure remains relevant to the needs of a contemporary school environment and that it rewards staff with commensurate remuneration.

Although we are still awaiting approval of the 2023 Agreement, the protracted nature of the bargaining means that we will be recommencing negotiations for our next Agreement relatively soon – so this work needs to start now!

We’re looking at which roles need to be included and which descriptors need updating as more and more tasks are taken on by support staff to ease the burden for teaching staff. Education Support staff bring significant skills, knowledge, and experience to their work, and it is vital that this is recognised and rewarded with clear career pathways and appropriate salaries. 

There is a great deal of work to do and we will be asking members provide insights and feedback to help us craft a clear, relevant, and contemporary classification and pay structure claim for the next round of bargaining.