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Shine Lawyers goes head-to-head with telco contractor
Following a lengthy investigation, Shine Lawyers has confirmed it has filed a class action in the Federal Court of Australia’s Victorian District Registry against a Telstra contractor.
Emma Musgrave
Shine has filed the class action, with funding by Litigation Lending Services Limited, against ISG Management Pty Ltd. It alleges that ISG Management Pty Ltd “misrepresented to workers, in some cases long-term unemployed, homeless and indigenous Australians, the true nature of their employment arrangements, in some cases, forcing them into financial and personal hardship”.
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In a statement, the firm explained that a “number of these workers, who had little business experience, were required to set up their own companies in order to receive work from ISG Management Pty Ltd, and had to take out large personal loans to pay for tools and a motor vehicle in order to conduct the work”.
Approximately 4,000 workers of ISG are believed to be eligible to join the action. ISG is expected to file its defence over the coming months.
“Our investigations have revealed that telecommunications workers who were purportedly employed under sub-contracting arrangements, were actually employees of ISG Management and therefore entitled to benefits such as wages, leave, allowances and overtime payments under the Commonwealth Fair Work Act and the relevant Telecommunications Services Award,” said Shine Lawyers' special counsel, class actions, Vicky Antzoulatos.
“In our view, ISG Management exercised total control and direction over the employment of these workers including where they worked, the jobs they worked on, the clothes they wore to work, the branding on their vehicles, the methods of work they were required to follow, such that they were actually employees rather than independent contractors.
“The conduct that will be alleged in the proceedings has had a devastating impact on our clients’ lives to the point where some workers have attempted to take their own lives.”
Ms Antzoulatos continued: “These workers deserve to be adequately and quickly compensated for what they have had to endure at the hands of this large Australian corporation”.
“We believe that over 4,000 workers could be eligible to join this class action. This could be the largest employment class action that has been commenced to date in Australia,” she concluded.
Shine Lawyers will appear in Melbourne's Federal Court registry this Friday at 9:30am in the first Directions Hearing against ISG Management.
