It’s going to be a big week for Brindabella Christian College. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Brindabella Christian College has managed to live to fight another day in the Fair Work Commission, telling the industrial umpire that it has sought alternative funding to pay its teachers.
The Lyneham-based school told the Commission today it would know on Wednesday (5 March) whether its bid to find funding to pay its teachers for the last pay period and into the future was successful.
The Independent Education Union had taken BCC to the Commission over unpaid wages for 53 staff, 10 days after the last scheduled pay period on 21 February.
The union demanded BCC “fix its unpaid wages debacle”.
“We had no choice but to take Brindabella to the Fair Work Commission to try to compel the school to pay its staff in full and on time,” said Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Carol Matthews.
BCC said if it acquired this funding, unpaid staff would receive back pay and all staff would be paid in full going forward.
But Ms Matthews said this still didn’t provide staff with any certainty.
“Should the school not secure this funding, it has not committed to ensuring wages will be met,” she said.
Both parties will reconvene in the FWC on Friday, 7 March, at 2:30 pm.
The school has agreed to the IEU’s request to inform the union when wages have been paid.
“Staff are still in shock that they haven’t been paid 10 days after their pay date,” Ms Matthews said.
“The situation at Brindabella has only gone from bad to worse.”
Ms Matthews said Brindabella continued to blame others for its financial mess.
“This is no way to run a school,” she said. “Our message is simple: pay staff accurately and on time.”
The union also raised questions in the Commission about leave balances and incorrect payslips.
The school committed to reviewing the leave balances of all employees in the coming months after blaming its payroll system for not correctly calculating entitlements.
Questions about a Commonwealth payment of $927,000 on 13 February only a week before the teachers were due to be paid were raised in Senate estimates last week.
ACT Senator David Pocock asked department official Meg Brighton if she had any concerns about how these funds had been spent.
“Senator, there are a number of things that would concern us about that,” she said.
It could be a crunch week for the beleaguered K-12 private school facing a wind-up action from the Australian Tax Office over an $8 million tax debt.
BCC’s proprietor Brindabella Christian Education Ltd has until Thursday to respond to a show cause notice from ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry over its ongoing governance and financial issues.
BCEL also had until Friday to respond to a notice of revocation of its approved authority from the federal Education Department, putting its $10 million a year annual funding on the line.
As well as the tax debt, BCEL has an $11 million loan facility with NAB, which expired in September 2024.
There are likely other creditors but it is hard to get an accurate picture of the current financial situation because financial reports and annual statements to the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission remain overdue, the last being submitted for the year ending 2022 in September 2023.
BCC continues to cancel school events, the latest being this week’s swimming carnivals.
“As we work through the cash flow pressures I have decided to postpone all school swimming carnivals that were scheduled to take place this week until later in the year,” new Principal Peter Reuben told parents.
