Top scientist fights over $191,000 Queensland Health promotion

A senior scientist who works for the state government has lost his bid to overturn his failure to get a promotion that would have elevated his pay to more than $191,000.

Senior Queensland Health scientist Benjamin Lundie.

A high-earning senior scientist who works for the state government has lost his bid to overturn his failure to get a promotion and hefty pay rise.

Benjamin Lundie applied for a promotion to principal chief scientist in genomics at Pathology Queensland – which attracts a $191,461 plus superannuation salary – but did not get the job.

Mr Lundie argued in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission that his failure to get a promotion was unfair and unreasonable.

He currently works as a supervising scientist in molecular genetics at Pathology Queensland within Queensland Public Health and Scientific Services based at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Herston.

In a bid to overturn the decision, he appealed to the QIRC in February last year.

In a decision handed down on January 20 by QIRC Commissioner Roslyn McLennan the appeal was dismissed after Queensland Health successfully argued the QIRC did not have jurisdiction to decide appeals against promotions where salaries are higher than $155,025, or an AO8 salary.

Ms McLennan noted in her decision that Mr Lundie was “placed in the invidious position of filing an appeal against a promotional decision, for which he is unable to obtain any remedy” because he was given contradictory advice by Queensland Health senior human resources adviser referred to only as “Ms Sullivan” before he filed the appeal.

“I have enormous sympathy for the Appellant’s complaint that “The position taken by Queensland Health in their response directly contradicts advice previously given to me by Senior HR Adviser Ms Sullivan who submitted this response,” Ms McLennan wrote.

“Following a query regarding the remuneration applicability between streams, Ms Sullivan’s response on 19th February 2024 … affirmed that the role being appealed is remunerated at a level no greater than the equivalent of an AO8 salary.”

Mr Lundie told the QIRC that Ms Sullivan’s email response to him on February 19, 2024 “directly influenced my decision to proceed with the appeal, under the belief that it was indeed permissible within the defined parameters.”

Ms McLennan states in her decision that Mr Lundie submitted that if Queensland Health’s response to his “very reasonable email inquiry on 19 February 2024” was carefully considered, Mr Lundie would not have invested the significant time required to file the appeal.

When Mr Lundie requested clarification from Ms Sullivan about the condition of “the role is remunerated at a level no greater than maximum salary applicable to the AO8 classification level”, Ms Sullivan told him that “the role being appealed is remunerated at a level no greater than the equivalent of an AO8 salary”.

“It is clearly regrettable that the advice was not correct,” Ms McLennan stated in her decision.

Originally published as Top scientist fights over $191,000 Queensland Health promotion