Staff sackings ’breached Act’
A GOLD Coast security company owner accused of underpaying workers by $16,000 and who allegedly sacked a worker who had pneumonia faces charges in the Federal Circuit Court.
Former Palmer United Party candidate Adam Marcinkowski is also accused of attempting to derail an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Marcinkowski’s firm VIP Security Services provided security at Gold Coast City Council libraries and car parks until April. He allegedly threatened to send staff “straight to the dole queue” if they spoke to Fair Work Ombudsman investigators.
The Ombudsman alleges Marcinkowski and his company breached the Fair Work Act by taking unlawful adverse action against three employees. Inspectors visited worksites last year to check security staff were being paid their minimum entitlements.
The Ombudsman alleges that after the visits Marcinkowski directed a supervisor to tell guards that if they spoke to the Ombudsman their employment would be terminated.
During a telephone conversation, Marcinkowski allegedly said: “If I hear that any one of our guards has spoken to them (Fair Work), they can just f---ing go straight to the dole queue.”
Marcinkowski and VIP Security allegedly followed through on the threat, yelling at and later dismissing one fulltime employee because he sought advice about his rights from the Ombudsman following a reduction in his hours.
In the weeks following the visits by inspectors, Marcinkowski allegedly dismissed two other guards, including one for refusing to sign a backdated agreement (which would have retroactively removed his leave entitlements).
Another was sacked after he failed to return to work immediately after spending several days in an intensive care unit with pneumonia.
It is alleged that VIP Security and Marcinkowski also underpaid three guards a total of $15,938 between April 2015 and June last year. The company has now back-paid the three guards in full.
Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said the charges were serious. “It is completely unacceptable for an employer to take adverse action against a worker, including dismissing them, for exercising basic workplace rights,” she said.