Bali twist after Brisbane teacher was sacked over ‘reply all’ email

A teacher who was sacked after sending a ‘reply all’ email and travelling to Bali while on sick leave has had a major win.

Stanislaw Kosiek was let go from Brisbane’s Marist College Ashgrove on August 9 before he took the matter to Queensland’s Federal Court.

The case was withdrawn after a month and Mr Kosiek took an ‘early retirement’ in September, marking the end to his 22-year-long stint at the school.

Mr Kosiek had accidentally sent a ‘reply all’ email criticising his bosses in February. 

The school later expressed concern he had travelled to Bali for a holiday despite the fact he was on sick leave and unable to attend his ‘normal work duties’.

Federal Court Justice Berna Collier sided with Mr Kosiek and said in an interim decision he had made it clear of his intention to travel to the holiday hotspot.

Marist College Ashgrove (pictured) head, Michael Newman had dismissed Mr Kosiek for taking an unapproved holiday while on sick leave, which a federal judge said was doubtable

‘I accept (Mr Kosiek’s) submission that the evidence before the court showed that at all times he had been completely honest concerning the basis on which he wished to travel to Bali during his sick leave, including that his attending medical practitioner had endorsed that travel as beneficial to the applicant’s health,’ Justice Collier ruled. 

Marist Schools Australia told the Federal Court Mr Kosiek had been sacked because he made the trip while on sick leave and before he had received approval to change it to unpaid leave, the Courier Mail reported.

Mr Kosiek had handed in the medical certificate which said that he would be out of work from April 17 to May 28. 

A letter from the college was included in court documents.

‘On May 3, you provided the College with a medical certificate confirming that you were ‘currently being treated for a medical problem and … unable to attend [your] normal work duties from April 17 to May 28′,’ the letter read.

‘The College has become aware that during this period of alleged unfitness, you in fact travelled to Bali for a holiday and informed several colleagues of this fact.’

Months earlier, Mr Kosiek had sent a ‘reply-all’ email on February 17 and insisted it was only meant for his union representative, Madonna Spillane, according to court documents obtained by the Courier Mail.

Instead he hit ‘reply all’ which sent the email where he chastised the IT department’s inadequacies to all staff. 

‘Recently, leadership in the IT area has been less than adequate,’ the email read.

‘Continuous leaning on past breaches for excuses for not getting current breaches fixed are not cutting the mustard.

‘We have amazing IT staff, but recently the big end of town stop feeding at the pool tuckshop (sic) and live up to their $250,000 job.’

Two days after sending out the email, Mr Kosiek sent a follow up where he withdrew his comments but within a week he was stood down with pay.

According to court documents filed by Mr Kosiek, he had actually been fired for criticising his superior in an email that he accidentally sent to all faculty instead of just his union manager

Marist College head Michael Newman said the email had ’caused great upset’ 

Marist College head Michael Newman said the email had ’caused great upset’.

On July 11 Mr Kosiek directly apologised to the head of the IT department.

But on August 9, he was told he’d been sacked.

Mr Kosiek withdrew his case from the Federal Court on September 27. 

A social media post by the college notified students and staff the science teacher had entered ‘early retirement’ effective September 7.

‘Stan Kosiek has been a highly valued staff member at Marist College Ashgrove,’ the college wrote.

‘We thank him for his contribution during this period of service, and wish him well in his future endeavours.’

Marist College has declined to provide further comment on the mediation discussions ‘out of respect to all parties involved’.