The Fair Work Commission found against the university last week in an unfair dismissal matter brought by bized academic Lucy Zhao

The university said Dr Zhao did not meet performance requirements for publishing in high ranking journals and had to go. But Fair Work Deputy President Sams said nothing-doing for a range of reasons. The one which will create conniptions in universities with specific publishing-performance targets is that while Dr Zhao researched for 40 per cent of her time, her good record on the other 60 per cent of her work means her performance overall isn’t unsatisfactory.

A UTS spokesperson tells CMM, “the university is disappointed by the decision given it followed the process in its enterprise agreement, and will now consider its options including the possibility of an appeal.”

An appeal that universities with similarly complex performance-metrics baked in academic enterprise agreement will hope UTS would win.