Casual academics filed complaints about working longer than 'anticipated hours'
The University of Melbourne has been fined nearly $75,000 after it took adverse action against two casual academics who complained about their workload.
The Federal Court fined the university a total of $74,590 in penalties for breaching the Fair Work Act.
This includes $37,295 in penalties for threatening to not re-employ the two casual academics, and $37,295 for not giving one further teaching work.
The academics, both from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, filed complaints after they were required to work for longer than their "anticipated hours" per subject without getting higher pay.
Casuals 'entitled to complain'
Justice Craig Dowling said the casual academics were "entitled to complain or inquire about their ability to perform their work within the 'anticipated hours' contained in their contracts of employment."
"Those complaints should have been free of consequence," Dowling said as quoted by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Employers in Australia are prohibited under the Fair Work Act from preventing or taking adverse action against an employee for exercising a workplace right.
"The threat, that if they claimed additional hours they would not receive future work, was a serious contravention of the Act," Dowling said. "The penalty must be sufficient to deter any repetition by the university or any other person in a position to contravene the Act."
According to the judge, the casual academics are dependent on the university for the renewal of their casual or fixed-term contracts of employment.
"They are vulnerable to the type of contravening conduct engaged in by the university in this matter," Dowling said.
The university has compensated one of the academics $4,000, while the other received $10,000 for non-economic loss. It also apologised for its contraventions and acknowledged the need to improve, according to the FWO.
'Zero place for adverse action'
In a statement, Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said there is "zero place for adverse action" in workplaces.
"Adverse action directly undermines workplace laws and the ability of employees to exercise their lawful rights – and this is unacceptable," she said in a statement. "These adverse actions in this case are exactly the kind of workplace conduct that inhibits people speaking up about their rights."
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) also said the case is "another damning example of what the explosion of insecure work means for staff on the ground."
"A $75,000 fine is welcome, but shocking incidents like this will keep happening unless there's major changes to universities' broken governance model," said NTEU national president Alison Barnes in a statement.
Underpayment allegations
The University of Melbourne is also under investigation for allegations of underpayments and making false or misleading records.
"Employers should have proactive measures in place to ensure they are meeting workplace laws. If employers become aware of concerns their employees may be being underpaid, including directly from the employees, the only appropriate response is to check that they are paying their employees correctly and promptly rectify any compliance issues discovered," Booth said.
For Barnes, she said the case calls for sweeping reforms at the federal and state levels.
"We need to fix the insecure crisis and make universities more accountable so they are no longer run like profit-hungry corporate giants operating in a Wild West environment," the union president said.
