MORTGAGE broker Dracook International will face court for allegedly failing to pay three financial consultants wages for two months.
The Federal Workplace Ombudsman legal proceedings against the company will be heard in the Brisbane Federal Magistrates Court on June 17.
The company’s owner-manager Robert Cooke is also facing court on charges that he was complicit in the non-payments. Court papers allege Cooke contracted three men to work full-time as financial consultants for his company from March 11, 2008, but they resigned on May 2 because they had not been paid.
Each of the former employees is allegedly owed $4128.76 in wages and annual leave entitlements. Workplace Ombudsman executive director Michael Campbell, says the decision to prosecute both the company and Cooke follows a refusal to rectify the alleged underpayments.
The Workplace Ombudsman is seeking a court order for all money owed to the workers to be repaid and for penalties against the company and Cooke.
The maximum penalty per breach of the Act is $33,000 for a company and $6600 for an individual.
)
