A Sydney woman has been forced to repay tens of thousands of dollars to staff after she was snared in a Fair Work Ombudsman national crackdown on security industry operators who deliberately underpay workers.
Natalie Kisbee is a blossoming stage singer who performs alongside her mother, Kel-Anne Brandt, at events such as the Tamworth Country Music Festival. She is also the owner of Unimet Security which, following its latest brush with authorities, has had to sign an enforceable undertaking with the employment regulator to ensure it pays workers what they are rightly owed.
A Fair Work Ombudsman investigation found that over the past four years Unimet engaged in the payment of flat rates that were insufficient to cover guards' minimum entitlements. Aside from no penalties or overtime, the company also failed to accrue holiday leave. It has since had to pay a total of $30,000 to five workers.
The action is part of a wider operation by the workplace watchdog to rein in security operators across Australia and set new standards for industry conduct.Â
The office is currently investigating if security staff  at Australia's oldest and most visited gallery, the National Gallery of Victoria, were underpaid by another Sydney based security firm Business Risks International - with the scope of the probe now extended to cover guards employed at Melbourne's La Trobe University and the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
Legal action is underway against Perth-based Sureguard Security for allegedly short changing employees by more than $200,000. And in June last year, a federal judge imposed record penalties totalling $308,000 after the Fair Work Ombudsman exposed the "calculated and deliberate" underpayment of guards by Step Ahead Security Services on the Gold Coast.
"Improving compliance in the security industry continues to be a focus for us," said Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James. "Employers in this sector need to realise it is unlawful to pay flat rates that undercut award entitlements, even if employees say they agree to it."
Mrs Kisbee and her husband Brad are no strangers to controversy. In 2014, Mr Kisbee was forced to resign as the security chief at Sydney's newly opened Wet'n'Wild theme park after a Fairfax Media investigation found that a lucrative on-site security contract had been awarded to Unimet, which he failed to disclose was owned by his wife, and the mother of his two children.
When the park's owners Village Roadshow invited tenders for the supply of security services at the $120 million venue, Mr Kisbee became privy to commercial in confidence material submitted by more than 30 rival applicants which he helped whittle down to five shortlisted companies, including Unimet. He later helped chair the interviews which led to Unimet being awarded a secondary security contract at the park.Â
As the Kisbees continued to deny any association, a Facebook post surfaced from six months earlier, congratulating "Natalie & Brad" on the birth of their daughter, as did a Unimet business card with Mr Kisbee's name printed on the back.
He later told Fairfax Media and Village Roadshow he had "no idea" why Unimet operations manager Darren Barrett had sent an urgent phone message to staff on the morning of the theme park's induction training day, reminding them it was the first time they were meeting Mr Kisbee. "No one has met him prior to the induction. Please respond to this message to ensure you have received and understood the above," the message said.
Several weeks later, the NSW Police Force's Security Licensing and Enforcement Directorate (SLED) conducted an audit of Unimet's operations which resulted in an $11,000 fine for exceeding the authority of its Master licence. SLED has confirmed that last year Unimet was the subject of a second audit and while no breaches of security industry legislation were uncovered, it passed on "allegations" to the Australian Tax Office and the Office or State Revenue.
Mrs Kisbee refused to speak to Fairfax Media last week but in a letter to staff, she wrote: "Unimet expresses its sincere regret and apologises to you for failing to comply with our lawful obligations."
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