Ensuring staff are paid correctly is a high priority for Monash University. We have a well-established process for assessing and responding to any concerns raised by staff about pay accuracy.
Monash disputes recent statements made by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) through the media about matters currently scheduled for a hearing before the Fair Work Commission (the Commission) on 18 and 19 May.
Monash University has not been provided with evidence to substantiate the claims made in media reports over the weekend suggesting $10m is owed to casual staff. We understand this figure has been asserted based on extrapolating the small number of disputed individual claims they have made in the Federal Court documents and speculating that thousands of other staff are affected in the same way – without any evidence.
It is misleading reporting to include an unsubstantiated dollar figure based on a speculative estimate, especially when the University disagrees with the NTEU’s interpretation of the relevant clauses and the matter is subject to legal proceedings. The media reports include no reference to where or how these estimated figures have been sourced.
As a result Monash University sought correction via the journalist and Editor to the misleading headline, however the report has not yet been corrected at the time of compiling this statement.
Monash has also been accused in the media reports of engaging in ‘unusual legal tactics’. This again is absolutely incorrect; the University is seeking to resolve an ambiguity or uncertainty that exists in the 2019 Enterprise Agreement following the applicable disputes processes and Fair Work Act.
This matter relates to an issue of interpretation in the 2019 Enterprise Agreement about pay issues concerning student consultation. The NTEU asserted a different interpretation to that previously followed for many years without dispute. In response, the University followed the agreed disputes procedure and sought the assistance of the Commission as the industrial umpire to try to resolve the dispute, given there was ambiguity in the wording in the 2019 Enterprise Agreement.
Rather than follow that disputes process and resolve the issue, the NTEU withdrew, sought to stop the Commission process and sought to pursue litigation in the Federal Court. This included the NTEU seeking orders from the Commission and the Federal Court to try to stop the Commission dealing with the matter. The Federal Court rejected the NTEU’s position and made orders allowing for the Commission to deal with the matter first.
Quite appropriately, the University is seeking to have the Commission as the specialist umpire resolve the dispute by removing any ambiguity and uncertainty. The disputes process is documented, agreed and signed off with the NTEU in the 2019 Enterprise Agreement and previous enterprise agreements. Furthermore, the process for addressing ambiguities and disputes is regulated by the Fair Work Act and the agreed processes in the Enterprise Agreement. The University is simply complying with the processes in our Enterprise Agreement, and the Fair Work Act.
The Fair Work Act provisions relied on by the University have been regularly used by employers and unions for the last 80 years. They were used unsuccessfully by the NTEU against Monash in 2016 when the NTEU applied to the Commission to vary the enterprise agreement to remove ambiguity about marking payments.
The Commission will hear Monash University’s application for a variation on 18 and 19 May 2023.
The University believes that the Commission, being the expert industrial umpire, is the appropriate jurisdiction to hear the variation matter and will comply with any final outcomes through that process.
The NTEU is not precluded from progressing its Federal Court proceedings once the Commission deals with the University’s variation application, should it decide to do so.
Following a initiated by the University in 2020 and 2021, timesheet submission errors and inconsistent descriptions of teaching activities were identified and resolved and the University self-reported those matters to the Fair Work Ombudsman and briefed staff and the NTEU on the issues and measures put in place to ensure compliance.
The University has taken significant steps to continue to improve our systems and processes for payment of casual staff.
Monash has also been increasing more secure forms of employment for casual academic staff and has developed a range of proposals that would provide greater non-casual employment for sessional staff. We have transferred more than 600 casual and sessional employees to more secure forms of employment in the University since early 2021.
