Gold Coast developer Anthony Quinn suing Descon Group Australia and its directors Danny Isaac and Greg Sneeden

A bitter falling-out between Gold Coast high-rise developers has hit court, with one chasing more than $1 million and calling in police over the stoush.

A bitter falling out between Gold Coast high-rise developers has hit court, with one chasing more than $1m and calling in police over the stoush.

Anthony Quinn has lodged a claim in the Federal Circuit Court against Descon Group Australia and its directors Danny Isaac and Greg Sneeden, claiming he’s owed more than $1m in alleged unpaid wages and losses over a property investment.

Mr Quinn has also lodged a criminal complaint, which Queensland Police said was under investigation.

Descon and its directors have rejected the claims and are defending the Federal case.

Descon Group is working on the 76 and 103-storey Orion Towers at Surfers Paradise and Imperial Square development in Southport. Mr Quinn’s QNY Projects has a $200m development pipeline, including the $95m La Mer tower at Main Beach and a yet-to-be-named project at Broadbeach.

In documents lodged with the court, Mr Quinn, a former Descon director, said he’d been a contracted employee of that company since 2019.

According to Mr Quinn’s statement of claim, Descon owner Mr Isaac asked Mr Quinn in 2021 to change his employment contract to a consultancy agreement, as “Descon’s books need to be cleaned up because it is going to be audited”.

The claim said the consultancy agreement was to be backdated to cover Mr Quinn’s entire period of employment with the company, and he was initially told the new agreement would mirror his existing employment terms.

Mr Quinn’s claim said the new agreement’s paid leave and termination conditions did not mirror the existing contract, so he brought it up with the company lawyer.

Two days later, Mr Isaac removed Mr Quinn as a director of the company.

Five days after that, while on “pre-approved paid leave”, Mr Quinn found he’d been locked out of the company’s electronic servers and bank accounts.

However, the defence filed by Descon and its directors says it was Mr Quinn who “had been treating himself as a contractor” to the development company, and that by doing so he’d failed to fulfil his employment contract.

According to Descon, Mr Quinn had authorised payments of his own salary until May 2020, but after that had instead authorised payment of invoices to his own company, QNY Projects, for “project management fees”.

Artist impression of QNY’s La Mer.

An artist impression of Descon’s proposal at Surfers Paradise Bvd.

Descon’s defence said Mr Quinn, by issuing invoices and expecting payment as a contractor, was therefore not an employee, and the new agreement was drafted simply to formalise the existing arrangement.

The defence said the new agreement was never intended to mirror the terms of the employment contract, and denied Mr Quinn had been on “paid leave” as he was not an employee.

According to Mr Quinn’s statement, he sent Mr Isaac a resignation letter with six months’ notice after discovering he’d been cut off from the company’s server, but received a termination letter the same day, accusing him of “serious misconduct”.

Descon later attempted to withdraw the termination letter, saying it was sent in error, court documents said.

Mr Quinn denies engaging in any misconduct and said while he initially agreed to make a new arrangement, he never formally executed it, so it was not enforceable.

Despite Mr Quinn not signing the agreement, Descon said he’d accepted it “through his actions” by expecting and receiving payment as a contractor.

According to his statement, Mr Quinn was not paid almost $67,000 in outstanding annual leave and was not given proper termination notice – or payment in lieu which would have amounted to $270,000.

Descon said it had paid Mr Quinn everything he’d been entitled to for the period he was directly employed and denied he was entitled to termination notice.

According to the court documents, Mr Isaac paid Mr Quinn $71,000 between June and September 2021.

Despite receiving those funds, Mr Quinn’s claim said he’d been forced to sell a Brisbane property he’d been renovating as he could not service its loans after he stopped working for Descon.

He lost $905,000 on the property, the court claim said.

Mr Quinn is seeking declarations that Descon, Mr Isaac and Mr Sneeden breached the Fair Work Act and that they be fined for the alleged breaches.

He is also seeking between $942,000 and $1.15m to cover the alleged property loss and unpaid entitlements, plus interest and costs.

The case is set for mention in Brisbane’s Federal Circuit and Family Court on August 15.