The Workplace Relations Commission ordered a public education body to pay a deputy principal a PhD qualification allowance from 25 August 2016, subject to statutory and superannuation deductions. The decision was dated 30 August 2017.
The deputy principal had completed a PhD after a long period of study. The respondent argued that he did not meet the criteria in a 2013 circular because he was not registered in 2011. The adjudication officer found that he remained actively engaged in the course and that his retrospective leave of absence was a break, not a cessation. The officer found the allowance was properly payable as wages.