An art and design school principal who says she was sacked by Instagram while on holiday in Europe is seeking almost $900,000 in compensation from her former employer.
Karen Webster claims she was dismissed by LCI Melbourne for taking paid annual leave during ‘the most important term of the year’ after being told to apply for time off.
She is suing her former employer in the Federal Circuit and Family Court, seeking $786,051 in lost earnings and $100,000 for humiliation, distress and hurt.
Ms Webster, who was being paid $270,000 a year, has held senior academic positions at universities including RMIT and was previously director of the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival.
Before her teaching career, Ms Webster was a designer for more than a decade and in 2012 was inducted into the Victorian capital’s Fashion Hall of Fame.
An art school principal who says she was sacked via an Instagram message while on holiday in Europe is seeking almost $900,000 in compensation. Karen Webster (above) claims she was dismissed by LCI Melbourne for taking paid annual leave after being told to apply for time off
Karen Webster says her application for leave from January 16 to February 17 this year was approved by her bosses. From January 19 to February her Instagram account was filled with pictures of her travels in Paris, Rome, Milan, Florence and Venice (above)
Ms Webster began as dean and principal of LCI Melbourne in Collingwood in 2019 under a five-year contract and in June 2022 was told she had amassed an excess of annual leave entitlements.
LCI Melbourne’s chief financial officer Robin Jain allegedly told Ms Webster the unused leave was a financial liability for the business and asked her to use some up.
Ms Webster says she applied in August to take leave between January 16 and February 17 this year, according to documents seen by Daily Mail Australia.
In her claim she states that request was approved by Professor Warren Bebbington, the chair of LCI Melbourne’s board of directors.
Ms Webster headed off on holiday and from January 19 to February 7 her Instagram account was filled with glorious pictures of her travels to Rome, Milan, Venice, Florence and Paris.
The St Kilda woman alleges LCI Melbourne’s director Claude Marchand, who is also named as a respondent, contacted her via a direct message on Instagram on February 7.
Mr Marchand allegedly told Ms Webster she had taken her leave while she was needed at the school and he had been instructed to terminate her employment.
Ms Webster has held senior academic positions at universities including RMIT and was previously director of the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival. She was inducted into Fashion Hall of Fame in Melbourne in 2012 and is pictured in Venice in January during her travels
LCI Melbourne’s first academic term this year started on February 13 and runs until June 5, according to its website.
‘You are not working at RMIT,’ Mr Marchand allegedly wrote. ‘You are working for a family business.
‘Why pay that salary if you are in Europe while our teachers and students are deputing the most important term of the year?
‘Wow. Big misunderstanding between us about role and responsibilities of a Dean and Principal.
‘I gave instructions to cut accesses an deal with termination effective today (aka date I realized). We’ll deal with that when you are back in Australia.’
Later the same day Ms Webster received written notification she had been terminated with immediate effect, court documents state.
Professor Bebbington sent an email to LCI Melbourne’s board of directors on February 7 which according to Ms Webster’s claim read in part: ‘I write to advise that our parent company LCI Education Network has deemed the employment of Karen Webster as our Dean and Principal in Melbourne has come to an end, with immediate effect.’
‘As such, we need to give effect to this decision. She will be paid her entitlements under the termination provisions of her contract.’
Ms Webster alleges LCI Melbourne’s director Claude Marchand contacted her via a direct message on Instagram on February 7 to inform her she was being sacked. ‘You are not working at RMIT,’ Mr Marchand allegedly wrote. ‘You are working for a family business’
LCI Melbourne’s director Claude Marchand (above), who is also named as a respondent in Ms Webster’s action, allegedly told Ms Webster she had taken her leave while she was needed at the school and he had been instructed to terminate her employment
LCI Melbourne is part of the the global LCI Education Network and was previously called the Australian Academy of Design.
It is a subsidiary of College Lassalle International, a company registered in Canada with campuses in Barcelona, Indonesia, Morocco, Vancouver and Montreal.
Mr Marchand is chief executive officer of College Lasalle International and the LCI Education Network, which according to its website employs 2,000 staff to teach more than 20,000 students worldwide.
Ms Webster claims LCI Melbourne’s conduct breached the Fair Work Act and is seeking compensation and a pecuniary penalty rather than reinstatement.
She says termination of her employment was an unlawful adverse action after she exercised her workplace right to take annual leave the school had agreed upon.
Her claim includes the loss of an opportunity to sign a new five-year contract and the loss of an entitlement to shares.
Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, the workplace law and compensation specialists, declined to comment. LCI Melbourne has been contacted for comment.
LCI Melbourne is part of the the global LCI Education Network and was previously called the Australian Academy of Design. It’s Melbourne campus (above) is in inner-city Collingwood
