Al Siraat College: Union says some teachers underpaid by thousands

An Epping college has admitted underpaying staff, with one teacher believed to be owed almost $10,000 and the teachers’ union now leading an investigation.

A protest billboard outside Al Siraat College in Epping.

Epping’s Al Siraat College has again come under the spotlight for the wrong reasons, with the school admitting to having underpaid some teaching staff by thousands of dollars.

Payslips for one teacher from February 2015 to May 2018, seen by the Leader, revealed the teacher had not received annual pay increases they were entitled to. The payslips showed the teacher had been underpaid by a total $9317.

The news came a week after principal Fazeel Arain, who is also a director of the company which leases land to the school, defended a $330,0000 rent hike.

And in July it was revealed Al Siraat College teachers often came to work ill and threatened to go on strike because they did not have sick leave entitlements.

An Al Siraat College teacher, who did not want to be named, said he felt “really let down” to find out his employer had been paying him less than he was entitled to.

“As someone who...is working toward a teacher’s degree you don’t exactly have the best wages as it is,” the teacher said.

The teacher said he had already spoken to principal Fazeel Arain about the low wages, prior to being informed by the Independent Education Union of Victoria and Tasmania about the underpayments.

He was now “considering looking elsewhere” for another job.

Union organiser Simon Schmidt said the union had been “made aware that some teaching staff have been paid below minimum award rates over recent years”.

“We’ve raised this with the college and understand they have undertaken their own audit,” Mr Schmidt said.

The school’s audit found two teaching staff had been underpaid.

Al Siraat College principal Fazeel Arain

“We are currently working to investigate the scale of the underpayments, but at this stage it looks like a number of teachers may have been underpaid, potentially by several thousand dollars each,” Mr Schmidt said.

The admission of underpayments comes as teachers at the school prepare to take further industrial action, by way of not attending staff meetings, following a break down in negotiations with Mr Arain after a fourth round of pay negotiations failed.

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Some teachers at the school are paid between $2500 to $9000 less than teachers in equivalent positions at other schools.

Teachers also do not receive paid maternity leave.

All schools in Victoria are required to be registered with the Victorian Regulations and Qualifications Authority (VRQA).

VRQA director Lynn Glover said the authority undertook regular reviews of the operations of all independent schools.

Earlier this year the authority closed the Insight Education Centre for the Blind and Vision Impaired amid issues around governance, funding and a lack of students.

When contacted Mr Arain said he did not intend to answer any further questions from the Leader.