Former ABC senior producer Richard Quentin McDermott lodges claim in court over underpayments totalling $288,000

A senior producer has taken action against the ABC over claims he was not paid for working ‘outside of his span of hours’.

The ABC has been sued over hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime. Picture: AAP

A former ABC senior producer is suing the taxpayer-funded broadcaster for underpayments and is seeking more than $288,000 in compensation.

Former ABC senior producer Richard McDermott

Richard Quentin McDermott – an ABC employee for 21 years up until 2020 – held numerous positions at the broadcaster including his most recent role as a senior producer at the TV program Australian Story.

In the statement of claim filed in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia in Sydney on January 25, McDermott claims the ABC breached the Fair Work Act and he is subsequently owed $288,443.41 in compensation for underpayments.

The amount calculated is an estimate — the claim declares this was the best given the ABC did not keep a “prescribed record” of the hours worked.

The documents state that McDermott was “regularly required to work hours in excess of his ordinary hours including outside of his span of hours.”

This included his work on two Four Corners programs, including the episode titled “The Great Cricket Coup” when he worked 80.3 hours a week, “Whatever It Takes” when he worked 72 hours a week and two Australian Story programs including “Behind the Mask” when he worked 62.7 hours a week, and “Candy Man”, when he worked 62.1 hours a week.

The court documents state the applicant worked an average of 53 to 72 hours a week while conducting research, filming and post-production for programs that aired on the ABC.

McDermott received a base salary of $118,850 for 12 months to July 2018, $121,227 in base salary from July 2018 to October 2019 and $126,125 in base salary from October 2019 to September 2020.

He also received market loading for these three respective periods of $24,997, $25,497 and $26,007.

Im 2021, the ABC undertook a review of McDermott’s payments including buyout arrangements, and found there was an underpayment of $3533.87 in the 2017/18 financial year, according to the statement of claim.

McDermott claims that underpayments were a breach of his enterprise agreements while working at the broadcaster.

McDermott joined the ABC in 1999 as Lateline’s supervising producer before he joined investigative program Four Corners as both a reporter and producer, and later, Australian Story.

He was a Walkley Award finalist numerous times.

The ABC declined to comment.

Originally published as Former ABC senior producer Richard Quentin McDermott lodges claim in court over underpayments totalling $288,000