The union secured back pay for a senior administrative staff member employed by the Catholic Education Diocese of Bathurst (CEDB).
The union achieved a major win for a member who has been paid more than $19,000 in back pay.
The member was employed in a regional Catholic systemic primary school with an enrolment of between 300 and 400 students.
Under the 2020 Catholic Systemic Schools Enterprise Agreement (EA), regional dioceses such as Bathurst, could classify the senior member of the administrative staff as Level 5 in a school of less than 400 students, even though the same position would be classified as Level 6 in all primary schools in metropolitan dioceses.
In negotiations with the 10 Catholic dioceses (not including Broken Bay) during 2022 and 2023, the IEU sought pay rises for support staff to reflect increases for support staff in government schools in 2019. The IEU claims included increases for senior administrative staff in regional dioceses.
An agreement was finally reached in mid-2023 with all 10 dioceses signing an Interim Settlement Agreement. As part of the settlement, most staff who had previously been classified as Level 5 in regional dioceses had to be reclassified as Level 6A, with back pay from January 2023. This settlement was also incorporated into the 2023 Catholic Systemic Schools EA, made in December 2023.
This reclassification was not applied to our member who received back pay in August 2023 because of pay rises, but did not realise she should also have received back pay from the reclassification.
When she became aware of this in late 2024, she queried her classification and whether she would receive back pay to January 2023. Her pay level was corrected in October 2024 with the assistance of the union, but her request for back pay continued to be refused.
Following months of discussions, the union notified a dispute to the Fair Work Commission in October 2025.
Back pay confirmed
After receiving extensive witness evidence and submissions filed by the union in support of our member, CEDB agreed to back pay the member for the period between January 2023 and October 2024 when her classification was fixed.
CEDB also agreed to conduct a review of other former Level 5 employees who may have been similarly underpaid.
You may be entitled to back pay
The union considers most dioceses applied the reclassifications from the 2023 settlement correctly.
However, if you are a senior administrative employee in a school of 100-400 students in a regional diocese, you may wish to check that you were back paid and classified as Level 6A from January 2023. If in doubt, contact the union.
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