Business owner fined $100,000 for firing worker, underpaying staff

A GOLD Coast security operator has been fined more than $100,000 after unfairly dismissing an employee and underpaying another three.

Adam Marcinowski, formerly the owner of VIP Security Services Pty Ltd, was fined a total of $115,668 for 14 contraventions relating to unfairly dismissing full-time employee Theo Kouros and underpaying another four employees, failing to reimburse them for uniforms and failing to pay penalty rates, personal leave and annual leave.

VIP Security Services were contracted to provide security at Gold Coast City Council sites between April 2015 to April 2017.

Their sites were visited by Fair Work Ombudsman inspectors in 2016, as part of an Inquiry looking at how local governments procured security services.

After the visits, Mr Kouros questioned Mr Marcinowski about his rostered hours, saying he had also spoken to the inspectors about the issue — and was subsequently dismissed, in breach of the Fair Work Act which states employers cannot take adverse action against an employee making inquiries or complaints about their working conditions.

For the unfair dismissal, Mr Marcinowski was penalised $8,262, by Judge Michael Jarrett. “The contraventions in this case are serious,” Judge Jarrett said.

It was also found that Mr Marcinowski underpaid his employees by using invalid Individual Flexibility Agreements.

Under the agreement, guards were paid $24 an hour flat rate, meaning they would have earned less than what they would have under the Security Services Industry Award 2010.

Judge Jarrett found that Mr Marcinowski knew he had deliberately underpaid them because he knew of the current industry rates.

Mr Marcinowski’s company VIP Security Services Pty Ltd, went into liquidation in April.

All employees were eventually paid back.