Australia is still looking for ways to close the gender pay gap between men and women. Progress has been slow, and the problem is well documented. But one Queensland not-for-profit decided to try something novel. It cut the pay of the men working for it, in the name of fairness.

That decision has now landed the organisation before the Fair Work Commission, with the Commissioner delivering a sharp rebuke.

The gender pay gap laid bare

The gender pay gap remains a stubborn feature of the Australian workforce. According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, women earn on average 21.1 per cent less than men. Put simply, for every dollar earned by a man, a woman earns about 79 cents.

There has been progress, but it has been incremental. The national gender pay gap has narrowed slightly over the past decade, driven by transparency laws, reporting requirements and stronger enforcement. Even so, at the current rate of change, pay equity in Australia is still decades away. Estimates from WGEA suggest gender pay parity will not be achieved until around the middle of this century.

What happened?

The case before the Fair Work Commission involved Youturn Limited, a community services organisation operating in child safety, homelessness, mental health and suicide prevention. Two long-serving male case managers had been classified and paid at Level 5 under the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Award for many years. Newer employees doing similar work were engaged at Level 4, and those employees were overwhelmingly women.

Rather than lifting the lower-paid roles, Youturn sought to reclassify the two men down to Level 4 in mid-2025.

Their duties did not change, but their pay did.

Each were offered new roles at Level 4 at an annual reduction of between $7,000 and $10,000 in remuneration. At the same time, the organisation paid one-off bonuses of $10,000 to $12,000 to female employees at Level 4, explicitly to address concerns about pay equity.

The men objected, refused to sign contract variations, and continued working under protest. They argued their higher classification had been “grandfathered” years earlier, a position the Commissioner ultimately accepted.

‘One does not break the glass ceiling by amputating the men above’

Commissioner Jennifer Hunt was unsparing in her assessment of Youturn’s approach. While acknowledging the legitimacy of addressing gender pay inequity, she rejected the idea that fairness could be achieved by tearing down existing contractual arrangements.

“The Respondent’s desire to ensure an equitable pay grade and remuneration among its employees… has resulted in the Respondent tearing the applicants down instead of honouring the common law contract it had with them,” she wrote.

Her most pointed line cut to the heart of the case. “One does not break the proverbial glass ceiling by amputating the legs of the men above.”

The Commission found that Youturn had effectively demoted the men, with a significant reduction in remuneration, without consultation or consent. That amounted to a dismissal under the Fair Work Act, even though the men technically remained employed.

The case has now been referred to conciliation, with Youturn ordered to meet and mediate with the employees in an attempt to resolve the dispute.