State schoolteacher wins fight against Education Department after permanent job offer bounces into junk folder

A teacher on a temporary contract has won a review of her employment status after the Industrial Relations Commission granted her appeal against the Department of Education.

A Sunshine Coast teacher on a temporary contract successfully appealed against the Education Department’s decision not to make her permanent after an email bungle.

The Education Department made a job offer to the teacher by sending it to her private email address, but it bounced into a junk folder, where she did not see it until two months later, by which time the job offer had expired.

The mother-of-three had been on various temporary contracts in the state system before she was offered a permanent job at Brightwater State School on the Sunshine Coast.

After finding the offer in her junk folder more than a month after it expired, the teacher requested a review of her temporary employment, but Education Queensland did not respond within 28 days, so she took her case to the Industrial Relations Commission.

Industrial commissioner Roslyn McLennan ruled on the case earlier this month, granting the teacher’s appeal and ordering the department to conduct a fresh review of her employment.

“The department did not provide confirmation that a review was conducted … and did not rebut the appellant’s (teacher’s) contentions regarding a failure to provide notice (of the review taking place),” Ms McLennan said.

“That omission is striking in the circumstances of this matter and on that basis, I find the department did not conduct a review of the appellant’s employment status … as required.

“As I have not been satisfied that the department conducted a review … I find that the deemed decision (to not convert her from temporary to permanent employment) was unfair and unreasonable.

“A fresh review (of the teacher’s employment status) should be conducted, with reasons demonstrating full and thorough consideration of the mandatory criteria and the relevant factual circumstances.”

Among the QIRC orders was that the department must advise their teacher of the outcome of her employment review by Friday.

The teacher told The Courier-Mail she had been offered a permanent position but it was in the Moreton region and did not disclose which school.

She said the original permanent offer at Brightwater State School would not be honoured and her situation was rare, according to her union representative.

The teacher said the saga was “very confusing” and “frustrating”. While she had not made a decision, she said she was considering going back to relief work, despite its uncertainty.