Melbourne University lecturer Dr Varsha Pilbrow scores legal win after being made redundant
A lecturer in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience who claims she was “intellectually raped” by colleagues after being made redundant has had a partial win in court.
Victoria
Don't miss out on the headlines from Victoria. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A University of Melbourne lecturer who claims she was “intellectually raped” by colleagues after being made redundant has had a partial win in court.
A mystery $15,000 donation and the actions of a string of leading international medical professors are at the heart of legal action brought by controversial academic Varsha Pilbrow.
Dr Pilbrow, a lecturer in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, was made redundant in 2019 after more than a decade at the university.
The university argued the redundancy, which took effect in 2020, was due to a change in direction away from topographic anatomy – Dr Pilbrow’s speciality – and a lack of external funding.
Dr Pilbrow, an expert in skeletal remains and teeth, argued it was also because she had made complaints against some of her colleagues due to their treatment of her.
The university also declined to accept a $15,000 external donation secured by Dr Pilbrow, which contributed, she said, to her redundancy.
When she was made redundant Dr Pilbrow said her colleagues stopped her from entering her own laboratory and security guards escorted her off campus.
Dr Pilbrow also inadvertently deleted files which led to her being accused of stealing 232 digital files and facing serious misconduct allegations. She said this all made her feel like a “mob” – which included some of the university’s most well respected medical staff – was “intending to kill her”.
A 2022 ruling from the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia rejected a number of Dr Pilbrow’s claims, finding that her redundancy was not linked to the claims she made against other staff at the university.
But Dr Pilbrow appealed, arguing that the motivation of a number of staff, including the then Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, Professor Shitij Kapur, was not taken into account.
Professor Kapur is now president and principal of King’s College, London.
On Monday, Justice Snaden in the Federal Court allowed the appeal only in relation to the university’s issuing of final warnings and serious misconduct allegations against Dr Pilbrow.
He found there was some evidence that the misconduct allegations Dr Pilbrow faced was an “adverse action” by the university.
Part of this is because of the “uncertainty” of the collective role played by a number of senior staff, including Professor Jennifer Wilkinson-Berka and Professor Fabienne Mackay.
Professor Mackay, a French immunologist, is now the CEO and director of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.
The matter will now be returned to the primary judge for a further hearing.
Originally published as Melbourne University lecturer Dr Varsha Pilbrow scores legal win after being made redundant
Victoria desperately needs 1000 new cops as vacancies soar
More than 1000 police jobs in Victoria sit empty, with a surge in officers quitting the force in the past two months.
Mistaken identity case almost cost NAB customer $500,000
A Berwick man was granted access to a stranger’s bank account, containing half a million dollars, in a shocking case of mistaken identity caused by “human error”.