Scenic Day Tours in Molendinar on Gold Coast accused of underpaying elderly bus drivers

A Gold Coast company running tour groups has been accused of paying elderly bus drivers as little as $10.70 an hour for 14 hour days and not paying thousands owed in superannuation.

Garry Luadaka claims he is owed thousands in unpaid wages and super after working for a Gold Coast tour company for nine years. Picture: TIM MARSDEN

A GOLD Coast company running tour groups has been accused of paying elderly bus drivers as little as $10.70 an hour for 14-hour days and not paying thousands owed in superannuation.

However, a spokesman for Scenic Hinterland Day Tours Pty Ltd, which previously operated Scenic Day Tours, denied the claims.

Pensioner Garry Luadaka said he worked for SDT for nine years ending in 2015.

He signed an agreement to work as a subcontractor with Scenic Hinterland Day Tours Pty Ltd, which went into liquidation last year owing more than $1 million, including $895,736 to the Australian Tax Office.

Scenic Hinterland Day Tours, which traded as Scenic Day Tour Group, has gone into liquidation owing almost $1 million. Picture: Tim Marsden

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That liquidation was alleged by liquidator Timothy Michael to be an “illegal phoenix” in favour of Scenic Hinterland Holdings Pty Ltd, the new owner of Scenic Day Tours.

Mr Luadaka said although he was classed as a subcontractor, he was actually an employee.

He said he wore the SDT uniform, drove buses owned by the company, and was assigned days he was required to work.

Mr Luadaka said he was paid $150 for days that could last as long as 14 hours.

Scenic Day Tours conducts tours to Springbrook National Park.

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He said he was expected to pay superannuation, tax and work cover out of that amount.

“I always suspected we were not contractors but I was of an age where I could not get a job,” he said.

“No one would employ me.”

He said his contract was terminated when all the drivers were forced to tender against each other for bookings and he asked for $200 a day.

He said the company told him the amount was too much.

Scenic Day Tours conducts tours to Byron Bay lighthouse.

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Mr Luadaka has lodged a claim with the ATO over unpaid super, which he says amounts to $5000 and is also a creditor to the liquidation of SHDT.

Another elderly driver, who wished to remain anonymous, said he worked under the same conditions as Mr Luadaka from 2008 to 2016.

The former worker said he earned on average $11.50 an hour. He decided to leave the company when he was asked to obtain third party insurance and says he is owed up to $15,000 in unpaid superannuation.

“I have decided to write it off as eight years of my life wasted,” he said

The spokesman said Mr Luadaka was a subcontractor at a time when there was not much work and drivers worked for multiple companies.

He said drivers were paid per trip because the company was not profitable enough to take them on as employees.

“When Garry was here there were five people and they were subcontractors,” he said. “There was not enough work for them, we couldn’t employ them, the company wouldn’t have existed.”

The spokesman said the business stopped subcontracting a decade ago as it no longer suited the needs of the business.

“We’re moving 100 people a day doing day tours, we can’t have some contractors anymore, because we need people to work. Before as a subcontractor they could refuse to work, which is why we’ve switched to full-time employees.”

He said the allegation of an illegal phoenix following the liquidaiton of SHDT was false.

“Scenic Hinterland Day Tours has an allegation that is about to fall over,” he said. “Our solicitor is looking at it all and she is about to send me a letter stating ‘no it is not an illegal phoenix’.”

Hickey Lawyers partner Scott Eustace said the key test applied by the courts over who was an employee or subcontractor related to how the work was performed, who supplied the plant and equipment and work uniform, how the driver was paid, who paid the tax and other factors.