Additional Educator/ISS Back Payment

[Stay.weird]

I have been a casual additional educator (ISS) since 2017 ( my pay being subsidised through the Inclusion Agency NSW/ACT's Inclusion Development Fund manager). From 2017 till around March 2018 I was being paid 28/hour and then 30/hour at level 3 child services employee (which is at my qualification). After March 2018 my pay went down to 24/hour (I was given a letter stating the decline in pay prior). I found out recently that I was moved down to support worker level 2.1 (later 2.2) which is unqualified.

In July I asked the director about my job qualification and role; I was told, my "job was unqualified although I needed to be qualified to be in the job". I searched through the inclusion agency website and found out I was there to boost the child-educator above what was required by the National Regulations. Once I showed the director this, my pay was put up to level 3 a couple of weeks later and was given an email stating the change and that I would be backpaid from a couple of days after I showed the director.

If my job needed to be qualified the whole time, do I need to be back paid from the time it was cut until now?

[Lorina]

Yes, in my opinion, if you were there as part of the ratios as per regulations then you were counted as a Cert 3 (Level 3) Educator and you should be back paid from the time it was cut.

,
Lorina

[soulahoin]

You should definitely talk to your employer about getting back pay for the time your pay got cut if your job was supposed to be qualified from the start.

[Lorina]

Yeah, from what you’ve described it sounds like you were mis‑classified for a good chunk of time. If the role itself required you to be qualified the whole way through, then technically you should’ve been paid at the Level 3 rate all along. Dropping you down to Level 2.1/2.2 (which is for unqualified support workers) doesn’t line up with the fact that your job demanded qualifications.

The fact they’ve now bumped you back up and agreed to backpay but only from the date you raised it is them covering themselves, not necessarily what’s fair. If you can show that the duties you were doing matched the Level 3 classification since 2018, you’ve got a strong case to argue for backpay from the whole period.

Honestly, I’d be chatting with Fair Work Ombudsman or even your union if you’re in one. They’ll give you the clearest advice on whether you can claim the difference for those years. At the end of the day, if the job required qualifications, you should’ve been paid at the qualified rate the whole time.

,
Lorina