Ex-academic in $175,000 pay dispute with Griffith University

An academic is in a battle against her former employer, a major Queensland uni, claiming she was underpaid for a decade.

Griffith University has denied it underpaid former academic Vivienne Wynter.

An ex-Griffith University academic is threatening legal action against her former employer claiming she was allegedly underpaid for 10 years and left out of pocket by $175,000.

Journalism academic Vivienne Wynter claimed to have racked up “hundreds of hours” in unpaid overtime and was “grossly” underpaid for writing and teaching courses online.

Ms Wynter said she lodged her claim with the Fair Work Ombudsman and planned to pursue it through the tertiary union and court system if necessary.

Griffith University has denied owing her any money and given her threat of legal action, said it was “inappropriate” to comment further.

Former Griffith University academic Vivienne Wynter.

Ms Wynter said she was paid a “miscellaneous” rate for teaching and course writing between $30 and $42 an hour, compared to the on-campus rate of $130-$160 an hour she was paid when teaching face-to-face.

Ms Wynter said she was in a “David versus Goliath” battle with the billion-dollar institution.

“It’s obscenely low. I have a first class honours in journalism. I love my students and they love me, quite a few of them have gone on to good careers, and this is professionally insulting,” Ms Wynter said.

“My understanding is that they won’t pay out.”

Ms Wynter said she worked at Griffith University for 20 years up until 2021 when her employment offerings ceased unexpectedly, which prompted her to make the claim.

She said her claim was based around the following: unpaid overtime, paid the lowest rate on the academic pay scale for course writing and paid a quarter of the on-campus rate when teaching online.

“I am claiming that for the ten years I taught online, I was paid the wrong rate for teaching and was not paid at all for hundreds of hours overtime,” Ms Wynter said.

“I was paid the lowest hourly rate on the pay scale to write entire courses and for half the hours it took to produce them.”

Ms Wynter said she had to find a second job and had struggled with her mortgage repayments as a result.

In response to questions from The Courier-Mail, Griffith University denied owing any outstanding wages to Mrs Wynter.

“The matter was raised with the university and has been investigated thoroughly,” the university said in a statement.

“The university paid a small amount of backpay and is confident she has now been fully and properly paid for her work.

“Ensuring our staff are paid accurately and promptly is of the utmost importance to Griffith University.”

The university did not respond to questions asked about the wage discrepancies between online and on campus academics.