Peninsula Grammar staff win payout after Covid lay-offs

Staff who were stood down by Peninsula Grammar during the Covid pandemic have won a hefty payout from the elite school for lost wages.

Staff stood down at Peninsula Grammar during Covid will share around $20,000 after their union settled their long-running dispute on Thursday.

The Independent Education Union has been fighting for payment for the classroom assistants and library staff after they were laid off in April and May 2020 for four weeks.

The leading private school, which charges nearly $30,000 a year in fees for senior students, was due to defend its actions in the Federal Court, but settlement was reached out of court.

Victorian IEU general secretary Deb James said she was delighted the workers were “finally getting their long-overdue entitlements”.

“The total amount in dispute here was around $20,000 in wages for some of the lowest paid staff in the school. Rather than simply resolving the matter quickly, Peninsula Grammar spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs and dragged this matter out for well over a year,” she said.

The school initially stood down 27 staff members due to remote learning but this settlement only covers four union members.

The Fair Work Commission ordered their reinstatement in September 2020.

Peninsula Grammar was also found guilty in the Federal Circuit Court in November last year of “unconscionable conduct” over its failure to honour fee discounts of $300,000 promised to a senior teacher with her kids at the school.

The school was contacted, but declined to comment.

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