Case of veteran teacher sacked over ‘reply all’ email, Bali holiday withdrawn

The case of a veteran Brisbane teacher sacked over a reply all email and a holiday in Bali while on sick leave has taken another twist.

Stan Kosiek was a teacher at Marist College Ashgrove.

A veteran Brisbane teacher who took his employer to court over his sacking, sparked by a Bali holiday while on sick leave and an accidental “reply all” email criticising his bosses, has “taken early retirement”.

After a month of legal disputes in Queensland’s Federal Court, both parties sat down for mediation sessions, leading to them reaching a resolution and the case being withdrawn.

According to court documents Marist College Ashgrove science teacher of 22 years Stan Kosiek sent an email on February 17 which he intended to send only to his union representative, Madonna Spillane.

However, he inadvertently clicked “reply all”, resulting in a large number of recipients.

“Recently, leadership in the IT area has been less than adequate,” the email read.

“Continuous leaning on past breaches for excuses for not getting current breaches fixed are not cutting the mustard.

“We have amazing IT staff, but recently the big end of town stop feeding at the pool tuckshop (sic) and live up to their $250,000 job.”

MCA head of college Michael Newman. Picture: Richard Walker

Two days later, court documents state, Mr Kosiek sent another email withdrawing his previous email.

Three days after that, Mr Kosiek met with MCA head of college Michael Newman and he was stood down with pay.

In later correspondence, Mr Newman told Mr Kosiek that his email had “caused great upset”, taking particular issue with Mr Kosiek’s reference to the “pool tuckshop” line.

“This line infers that IT staff are doing well, but management (the big end of town) is not.

Stan Kosiek. Photo: Supplied

There is something quite upsetting about the tuckshop comment and the ‘big end’ comment along with reference to someone’s salary,” Mr Newman wrote.

“It infers that the IT manager is not focused on his work where he is ‘feeding at the pool tuckshop’. It may be a reference to the IT manager’s appearance.

“Your comments appear to infer that the IT manager is making excuses, is responsible for previous breaches, and that he is not taking responsibility.”

Mr Kosiek, through his lawyer, had further written discussions over the next few months with Marist representatives, which ultimately resulted in him returning to work on July 11.

Mr Kosiek directly emailed the college’s IT head, Kevin Berry, on July 14 to apologise.

But documents show less than three weeks after returning, Mr Kosiek was called in for a meeting and received a letter afterwards in which the college laid out further concerns.

“On May 3, you provided the College with a medical certificate confirming that you were ‘currently being treated for a medical problem and … unable to attend [your] normal work duties from April 17 to May 28’,” the letter said.

“The College has become aware that during this period of alleged unfitness, you in fact travelled to Bali for a holiday and informed several colleagues of this fact.”

The letter also accused Mr Kosiek of improperly apologising to Mr Berry.

“The apology was to be directed to Mr Berry via Mr Brauer (MCA deputy head of college Charles Brauer), in accordance with Mr Berry’s wishes,” it said.

“You emailed Mr Berry directly and provided an apology that was not approved by Mr Brauer or delivered in the agreed manner.

“The College has also become aware that this apology was not considered to be adequate by Mr Berry.”

The accidental 'reply all' email sent by Marist College Ashgrove teacher Stan Kosiek in February. Picture: Federal Court of Australia

Mr Kosiek was again stood down, before being advised via separate letter on August 9 that his employment had been terminated.

When the case went to the Federal Court, Marist Schools Australia said they fired Mr Kosiek because he went overseas while on sick leave and before he had received approval by the college to change it to unpaid leave.

According to court documents Mr Kosiek questioned whether the real motivation for his sacking was related to him exercising his right to complain about his supervisor, Mr Newman.

In an interim decision on September 6, Federal Court Justice Berna Collier ruled there was “a serious question” regarding Mr Kosiek’s termination that should go to trial.

“I accept (Mr Kosiek’s) submission that the evidence before the court showed that at all times he had been completely honest concerning the basis on which he wished to travel to Bali during his sick leave, including that his attending medical practitioner had endorsed that travel as beneficial to the applicant’s health,” Justice Collier ruled.

However, following mediation sessions on September 7 and 14, Mr Kosiek withdrew his case on September 27.

Last Tuesday, the college posted on Facebook that Mr Kosiek, who they described as “a highly valued staff member”, had taken early retirement, effective as of September 7.

The details of the mediation sessions are not publicly available. The Courier-Mail contacted Marist asking whether the college wanted to provide any further information.

“Out of respect for all parties involved, the College is unable to make further comment,” MCA head of college Michael Newman said in a statement.