16-06-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Scots College fails to pay its staff on time
Scots College, CBD's favourite $51,000-a-year Bellevue Hill private boys school, isn't known for sparing any expense.
This is, after all, the school that just opened up its long-awaited $60 million faux-Scottish baronial castle student centre at a lavish ceremony featuring extravagant pyrotechnics and braying bagpipes.
Imagine, then, the frustration among staff when their monthly pay cheque failed to land last week. Employees were meant to get paid on Thursday afternoon but received nothing. By close of business Friday, some still hadn't received their wages.
Now, most of the Scots community are hardly living pay cheque to pay cheque. This is a school that educates the sons of CEOs and barristers. Headmaster Ian Lambert earns a salary to rival the prime minister's, and key managers take home north of $350,000 annually.
Still, CBD hears the whole situation caused a bit of anxiety. There remains a cost-of-living crisis out there, and not everyone on the Scots payroll lives within a two-kilometre radius of Bellevue Hill.
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After much prodding, Scots tried to spin their way out of it by telling CBD that actually, staff were paid early, and blaming a new enterprise agreement.
'Under the terms of the new Independent Schools (Teachers) Cooperative Multi-Enterprise Agreement 2025 (CMEA), staff salaries are scheduled to be paid on the 15th of each month,' the College's statement said, noting that staff were typically paid on the 12th of each month.
'This month the College implemented adjustments to salaries and backpays in accordance with the new CMEA. This required some additional processing time; however, all staff were paid on 13 June, two days ahead of schedule. An email was sent to all staff.'
