Hospitality union accused of illegally destroying documents

The hospitality workers’ union faces serious allegations it adopted a policy of document destruction in breach of its legal obligations.

Jo-anne Schofield national secretary of United Voice. Picture: supplied.

The hospitality workers’ union faces serious allegations it adopted a policy of document destruction in breach of its legal obligations under which all emails are deleted from its system after a period of 90 days.

The clubs industry has alleged that the policy may constitute a criminal offence and claims it represents a breach of the Registered Organisations Act.

Clubs Australia Industrial is seeking orders against the union in the Federal Court compelling it to give an explanation for its conduct and the reasons for the policy.

Executive director of Clubs Australia Industrial, Chris Mossman, told The Australian: “United Voice destroyed documents even after being warned of Clubs Australia’s intention to commence proceedings”.

“It is deeply concerning that United Voice as a registered organisation which is subject to prudential legislation knowingly destroyed documents that evidence how the organisation acts and behaves-even when they act unlawfully”.

Clubs Australia pursued legal action against United Voice in mid 2017 for alleged breaches of the Fair Work Act over protests staged by the union at the Redlands Sporting Club, Wynnum Manly Leagues Club and Burleigh Bears Leagues Club in the Brisbane and Gold Coast areas.

In December, the Federal Court made orders for the union to “give discovery of all email communications and other forms of communications” relating to the protests but, in February, the union provided only an initial batch of 24 documents.

It was revealed in March that the union maintained an “email retention policy” which explained why so few documents had been made available.

Clubs Australia argues that the email retention policy dictated that “all emails greater than 90 days old are to be automatically deleted from United Voice’s network drives or backup devices with no option of retrieval”.

It also argues that the union was forced to admit that its employees used their own personal email accounts to transact union business and that the union had no ability to monitor, review or supervise what was sent by employees on their private email accounts.

On July 12, Clubs Australia Industrial alleged in the Federal Court that its policy was a “flagrant breach of the union’s obligations in the Registered Organisations Act” and also suggested it could be a criminal offence.

United Voice National Secretary Jo-anne Schofield, told The Australian: “It is inappropriate for any party involved in court proceedings to comment on the current hearing — as it may prejudice the Court’s determination of the interlocutory application which remains on foot.”