IEU records legal win over school’s ‘unconscionable conduct’ during lockdowns

The IEU has recorded an emphatic legal win for a member at Peninsula Grammar by forcing the school to honour its fee discount for staff with children at the school. The school (represented by the Principal, Stuart Johnston), found guilty of unconscionable conduct last November, now has to pay the Union’s legal costs – amounting to $150,000.

The Federal Circuit Court found against the school, which had cut fee discounts for the children of teachers working at the school when remote schooling started during the pandemic. It said the blanket imposition of the lower discount “was grossly unfair” to teachers who had secured higher discounts.

At that time, Victorian IEU General Secretary Deb James told the Herald Sun Peninsula Grammar had engaged in “multiple attempts to pass the costs of lockdowns on to staff, from standing down employees without pay to dishonouring negotiated fee discounts”.

“It’s a real shame to see a wealthy institution like Peninsula Grammar displays such little loyalty, regard or care for hard-working staff,” she said. 

Deb said the only financial impact of the pandemic on the school had been “the huge legal bills they’ve amassed trying unsuccessfully to squeeze their own employee out of their legitimate entitlements”. 

Earlier this year, in a separate matter, Peninsula Grammar agreed to pay IEU non-teaching staff for the period they were stood down during the first COVID lockdown in 2020. The matter was due for a five-day hearing in the Federal Court after two years of litigation, but settlement was reached outside court.

At the time of the court’s fee decision, the Herald Sun reported the finding was “expected to have implications for many other colleges”. They were right.

The result sent the message that the IEU would protect the legal rights of its members and doggedly pursue any school which used the pandemic to cut costs by accessing staff wages. 

Every other school which attempted to stand down workers without pay reconsidered their position in the face of the successful legal action from the IEU. Peninsula Grammar were offered the same settlement but chose to fight to the end. After years of fighting, our members have won back everything the school tried to take from them, the Union has won its legal costs back and the school has spent a fortune fighting only to lose the lot.

Herald Sun article - 15 July 2022