The National Tertiary Education Union has launched Federal Court action against RMIT University over allegations it underpaid student counsellors for at least a decade, with affected staff potentially owed more than $1 million in stolen wages.
The case, filed Friday in the Federal Circuit Court, centres on RMIT requiring counsellors to be psychologists or social workers who hold postgraduate degrees in psychology or social work while paying them at a lower classification reserved for undergraduate-qualified positions.
The test case brought on behalf of NTEU member and clinical psychologist Michael Swadling, who is seeking $87,000 in underpayments since 2019, could open the door for 15 current counsellors and additional former staff to recover years of stolen wages.
RMIT's student counselling team supports more than 2000 students each year, with 30% of those students reporting thoughts of suicide/self-harm or experiencing family violence in 2023.
Despite the critical nature of this work, RMIT was the only university nationally requiring postgraduate qualifications while paying counsellors at the lower Level 7 rate instead of Level 8.
In May this year, RMIT moved counsellors to "senior counsellor" roles at the higher pay rate – effectively admitting the misclassification – but refused to provide backpay or properly recognise years of service in setting salaries.
NTEU National President Dr Alison Barnes said the case exposed how universities exploit their most vital workers.
"Here we have highly qualified mental health professionals responding to student crises and preventing tragedies, yet their employer has underpaid them for years," she said.
"RMIT decided these counsellors needed postgraduate degrees to do their jobs safely and effectively, but chose to pocket the difference by classifying them incorrectly."
"This is a betrayal of the crucial professional staff universities rely on to keep vulnerable students safe."
NTEU Victoria Division Secretary Sarah Roberts said the case highlighted the broader crisis of professional staff exploitation.
"Mental health support has never been more critical on our campuses, yet the very people providing this essential service have been deliberately undervalued and underpaid," she said.
"If successful, this case will send a clear message to all universities that they must properly classify and pay thousands of professional staff doing complex, specialised work."
NTEU member and delegate Michael Swadling, who has worked as a Student Counsellor at RMIT since 2015, said the fight was about respect as much as money.
"When you're supporting students in distress and responding to crises, it's hard not to feel devalued when the institution treats your role as something less. This case is about fairness, but it's also about respect for the people doing the work," he said.
"It's embarrassing to realise that our university encourages students to pursue Master's programs in Psychology and Social Work, and then undervalues those same qualifications in their own staff. The expertise they celebrate in the classroom is the same expertise they've underpaid in the workplace.
"Universities are in the business of teaching the importance of evidence-based mental health care - but they haven't applied that same respect to their own clinicians. You can't claim to champion wellbeing, and then shortchange the people providing it."
The case adds to the mounting university wage theft scandal, with confirmed underpayments across the sector now exceeding $284 million and provisions for a further $168 million taking the total beyond $450 million.
