Torrens University maintains commitment to meeting award obligations
Torrens University is being accused of systematically underpaying casual academics for essential work, in a class action believed to be the first major underpayment lawsuit of its kind.
The lawsuit, launched by Hayden Stephens & Associates, accuses Torrens of violating the Higher Education Industry Academic Staff Award 2020 by failing to properly pay casual academic staff for work, such as marking, moderation, training, unit meetings, and student consultation.
It is expected to cover more than 1,000 casual academics who have worked across Torrens University campuses in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and the Blue Mountains.
Tito Scohel, the lead applicant and a lecturer at Torrens since June 2023, said the action was about ensuring casual academics were paid fairly.
"We are taking this action because casual academics should not be expected to perform essential university work for free," Scohel said.
"If the work is required, it should be paid."
The class action comes in the wake of widespread wage underpayment scandals among a number of public universities across Australia, such as Murdoch University and the University of Queensland, both of which recently entered an Enforceable Undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman.
"Underpayment in the university sector has reached endemic proportions. What makes the allegations against Torrens particularly significant is the extent to which casual academics say even basic and essential parts of their jobs were not properly paid," said Hayden Stephens, principal of Hayden Stephens & Associates, in a statement.
"Our clients are not asking for a pay rise or special treatment. They are asking to be paid for the work they were required to do."
Torrens committed to meeting award obligations
Torrens University, a private university owned by US-listed company Strategic Education, Inc., said that it is aware of the class action suit filed against it.
"Torrens remains committed to meeting its obligations under the Award and supporting affected casual academic staff covered by the Award throughout this process," a spokesperson from the university told HRD.
The matter relates to the university's interpretation of a provision of the Higher Education Industry Academic Staff Award 2020, which the Federal Court initially endorsed.
The Full Court of the Federal Court, however, found in March 2026 that Torrens unlawfully relied on a single rolled-up lecture rate to cover marking duties that should have been separately paid under the award.
Torrens applied for special leave to appeal to the High Court, but this has been declined.
"Following the Full Court of the Federal Court's decision on the appeal six months ago, we promptly implemented separate payment arrangements for marking activities for casual academics compliant with this judgment, which remain in place," a Torrens spokesperson said.
"Following the High Court's decision last month not to hear our appeal, we have been working towards remediating affected staff and have been communicating regularly with those staff about this process."
