The Federal Court recently fined the Royal Melbourne Institute
of Technology (RMIT) $37,000 and ordered it to reinstate an
academic for using a sham redundancy to "get rid of an
undesired employee".
The university claimed it had made the academic redundant for
financial reasons, as her area was running at a loss, however
Justice Peter Gray found RMIT took unlawful adverse action when it
dismissed the academic after she had fallen out with her head of
school.
NEED FOR DETERRENCE
In setting the penalties, Justice Gray noted that RMIT,
particularly the Vice-Chancellor, had displayed no contrition. He
commented that, "unless the effect of a penalty is felt, RMIT
might again succumb to the temptation to make use of its redundancy
processes to rid itself of an employee".
