Urangan High School staff dispute revealed in compensation case

A Hervey Bay teacher accused of calling students ‘sl*ts’ and ‘b***hes’ has made a bid for compensation for the way he was treated at the school.

The Queensland Industrial Relations Commission in July dismissed an appeal regarding the matter, finding that the teacher, Anthony Carlo Guandalini had not met the threshold to prove his employment was a “significant contributing factor” to his psychological injury, nor that the management’s actions in question were unreasonable.

Internal infighting at Urangan State High School, including allegations a teacher referred to students as “sluts and b***hes”, has been exposed after a maths teacher sought worker’s compensation for a psychological injury he claimed had been caused by management failures and workplace mistreatment.

The Queensland Industrial Relations Commission in July dismissed an appeal regarding the matter, finding that teacher Anthony Carlo Guandalini had not met the threshold to prove his employment was a “significant contributing factor” to his psychological injury, nor that the management’s actions in question were unreasonable.

The complaint came after Mr Guandalini, who had worked at USHS since 2006, was diagnosed with an adjustment disorder with anxiety and low mood.

The Queensland Industrial Relations Commission in July dismissed an appeal regarding the matter, finding that the teacher, Anthony Carlo Guandalini had not met the threshold to prove his employment was a “significant contributing factor” to his psychological injury, nor that the management’s actions in question were unreasonable.

From about 2019, he was involved in a relationship with fellow maths teacher Monique Psaila.

The court documents stated teacher aid Michael Kerby was involved in an ongoing conflict with Ms Psaila.

Mr Guandalini said the injury from his employment arose as a result of two events at the school.

One involved a breach of a return-to-work agreement involving Mr Kerby, and the other a series of staff complaints made against him shortly thereafter.

In the first incident, Mr Guandalini cited Mr Kerby’s unannounced return to a shared staffroom, despite an agreement that such re-entry would occur only after a mediation process.

The next day, three colleagues, said to be “close friends” of Mr Kerby lodged formal complaints against Mr Guandalini, which led to an internal investigation and relocating him from the staffroom.

Internal infighting at Urangan State High School has been exposed after a maths teacher sought worker’s compensation for a psychological injury he claimed was caused by management failures and workplace mistreatment when he worked there.

“The school did not make inquiries of the complainants during the investigation as to whether the complainants had spoken to one another about raising the complaints or agreed to co-ordinate their complaints,” the court documents stated.

Consultant psychiatrist Sanjay Nandam told the tribunal that Mr Guandalini came to see him and complained that a formal complaint was made against him at work in 2021, allegedly by friends of a mathematics teachers’ aid Michael Kerby.

“The complaints alleged he had called students ‘bitches’ and ‘sluts’, which Tony stated he had never done and that he did not use those words,” Dr Nandam’s notes, quoted in the decision states.

In another report, Dr Nandam records: “A week later, Tony received three separate formal complaints against him by friends of Michael Kerby”.

“The complaints were over Tony’s behaviour, including making sexual comments about students, during the past to years and alleged that these had been brought to his line manager without action,” Dr Nandam wrote.

“Before the complaints, Tony had never heard about these issues, despite doing regular performance review with his line manager and the principal.

“He denied any alleged behaviours.”

At the end of March 2021, due to worsening anxiety and low mood, Mr Guandalini stopped work, telling his doctor he had lost confidence in the capacity of the school to provide a safe workplace.

The commission found that while the events may have triggered distress, they did not amount to a work-related injury under the Act.

It was determined that Mr Guandalini had long standing personal stressors — namely an acrimonious divorce and his involvement in his new partner’s workplace bullying claims — which contributed significantly to his condition.

The decision also concluded that the school’s actions in investigating the complaints and managing the return-to-work arrangements were “reasonable management action taken in a reasonable way,” thus falling outside the definition of a compensable injury.

“Reasonable management action need not be perfect,” it was stated in the judgement.

“The evidence showed the grievance process was procedurally fair and designed to support the staff involved.”

The appeal was formally dismissed, with the commission confirming the Workers’ Compensation Regulator’s March 2022 decision to reject the claim.

The parties were directed to file submissions on costs by July 18, 2025.

Originally published as Urangan High School staff dispute revealed in compensation case