Twynam Group hit with court claim alleging wrongful dismissal

A woman hired to work with one the country’s richest families claims she is owed over $400,000 and was dismissed after revealing her baby plans.

The Kahlbetzer family’s investment vehicle the Twynam Group has been hit with court claims by a former employee.

The former venture capital manager employed by the wealthy Kahlbetzer family’s Twynam investment vehicle alleges she was sacked after she told the company she wanted to have a baby.

Kaitlyn Tregenza, in documents filed with the Federal Court, also alleges Twynam engaged her in a “sham contract” role and repeatedly failed to pay her. In her statement of claim Ms Tregenza alleges she is owed as much as $412,023.

But Twynam, in a statement, told The Australian that Ms Tregenza chose to terminate her contract and had not been sacked in October 2021 as she claims.

Run by the Kahlbetzers – one of the country’s wealthiest families with assets worth $1.39bn, according to The List – Australia’s Richest 250 – have substantial agricultural holdings owned by the Twynam vehicle.

But the family has become increasingly interested in venture capital. In 2009, John Kahlbetzer supported his son Markus in creating BridgeLane Capital, a firm seeded with cash and ownership of 80,000ha of Argentinian agricultural property.

Markus Kahlbetzer and older brother, Johnny – who now runs Twynam – have diversified the family operation. Twynam backs businesses involved in green technologies, sustainable farming and renewables.

Markus Kahlbetzer is not involved in the legal dispute between Ms Tregenza and Tywnam.

Ms Tregenza said she was hired by Johnny Kahlbetzer after meeting him in 2018. He allegedly agreed to engage Ms Tregenza, initially for two days every week on a non-exclusive basis.

Johnny Kahlbetzer.

However, Mr Tregenza alleges this arrangement later changed to an ongoing exclusive basis after she was required to make multiple overseas trips to assist Twynam and Johnny Kahlbetzer’s interests. Ms Tregenza alleges she agreed to work for the business at a $900 a day rate, but Twynam failed to pay the full amount owed. Her statement of claim alleges that when she submitted a $52,659 invoice, Twynam only paid $46,409.

Ms Tregenza alleges she “continued to demand payment to be made” on the money owning between September and October 2019, but was allegedly told by Mr Kahlbetzer and Twynam chief financial officer Collin Sussman that she would only be paid if she agreed to reduce her fees by $17,600.

Ms Tregenza – who describes herself as having lived “a highly unconventional life” – alleges she ultimately agreed to take a $400 a month pay cut, with no change to hours or services provided, “under duress caused by the respondent withholding of payment for services rendered”.

However, Ms Tregenza alleges her deal with Twynam amounted to a “sham contract” as she was allegedly required to work akin to a staff employee to the business and her deal was “not and is not a legitimate contractor agreement and instead formed part of a broader employment agreement”.

Ms Tregenza alleges when she told Mr Sussman of her “intention to become pregnant” in October 2021 she was sacked.

She claims that Twynam destroyed 40,000 of her documents after accessing her computer, and took actions which “negatively impacted the applicant’s ability to secure employment”.

On Thursday, a spokeswoman for Twynam it was “disappointed the avoidable situation has arisen”.

Twynam said Ms Tregenza had told the company she wanted to end her contract in late October 2021, and that they were not notified she was pregnant until after she had given that notice.

“Twynam commenced separate proceedings against Ms Tregenza and (her company) on the 21st of March 2022 in the Local Court,” she said. “Twynam will not be commenting further.”