Former FSG Australia employee suing for $1.6 million for workplace incident

A FORMER FSG employee is suing the charity and real estate investor for more than $1.6 million, Supreme Court documents show.

A former FSG employee is suing for more than $1.6 million.

A FORMER employee is suing embattled Gold Coast charity FSG and a property owner for $1.6 million.

Documents lodged in the Supreme Court in Brisbane allege Tina Mcguffie was working as operations manager at a property leased by service provider FSG (Freedom, Social Justice, Growth Australia) on January 9, 2015, when she fell down a flight of stairs.

She allegedly sustained serious spinal and neck injuries, damage to her right leg sciatic nerve, fractured ribs, a deltoid ligament tear, internal injuries, bruising, carpet burns and anxiety.

The documents say that since the injury almost four years ago, Ms Mcguffie claims she has still not regained full physical and mental health.

She is suing the owner of the premises, SLW Investments, for almost $860,000 in damages and her employer FSG Australia for more than $780,000 in damages – amounting to about $1.6 million.

The charity has been the subject of a number of controversies in recent years. Photo by Richard Gosling

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Since the fall FSG has entered voluntary administration, owing creditors in excess of $20 million.

But as the company was in operation and covered by Work Cover at the time of the accident, Ms Mcguffie will be paid damages if she is successful in her case.

“Fortunately at the time of the accident FSG was not in administration and covered by a Work Cover policy,” Maurice Blackburn associate lawyer Claire Gibbs said.

“That policy will cover incidents up until the last day of operation, which for FSG was June 30, 2018.”

Ms Mcguffie’s claim alleges FSG was negligent in taking care of her safety, did not correctly inform her on how to carry out employment safely, did not supervise her and did not warn her of the possibility of injury.

The claim alleges SLW failed to warn of the dangers of the stairs, failed to ensure the stairs complied with relevant codes, failed to display signage and failed to provide adequate handrail support, among other complaints.

The documents were finalised and lodged in the Supreme Court last week.