Ann Josephine Hutton sues Ken Guy Buderim Property for unfair dismissal
A high-flying Queensland real estate agent is suing her employer – a prominent Sunshine Coast agency – claiming she was unfairly terminated after complaining.
Sunshine Coast
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A Sunshine Coast real estate agent who was sacked by her employer has sued for unfair dismissal claiming she was terminated after complaining she was underpaid commissions.
Ann Josephine Hutton, known as Jo Hutton, alleges she was unfairly sacked by Ken Guy Buderim Property Pty Ltd (KGBP) on August 11, 2023 for allegedly failing to comply with her employer’s direction that she hand over her personal mobile phone and laptop.
KGBP state in their defence filed in the Federal Circuit Court that they deny taking any adverse action against Ms Hutton and allege Ms Hutton was sacked for “proven serious misconduct” and not for exercising a workplace right.
They deny she suffered any loss or damage and state she was overpaid $13,230, a claim she denies.
Ms Hutton alleges in her claim that she was ordered to hand her devices over and give access to her cloud-based services so KGBP could check and delete any copy of their clients’ contact details on them.
Ms Hutton, who is representing herself, states in court documents that KGBP’s June 30, 2023 direction for her to hand over her devices was unreasonable because she had agreed to not misuse confidential information and KGBP had already deleted a copy of the client list she had on her laptop for legitimate reasons on May 2.
She alleges her unfair sacking caused her to lose the opportunity to earn $44,278 in wages and commissions over the next six months.
Ms Hutton also alleges in her unfair dismissal claim that she suffered a loss of $36,490 made up of $24,599 she was underpaid plus superannuation and entitlements, a claim which is denied.
Hutton is suing KGBP and its three directors – Jonathan Marshall, from Buderim, Michael Alexander Barr from Woombye and Danny Redman from Kiamba.
She alleges the trio were liable as accessories for the illegal conduct of KGBP in unfairly dismissing her and breaching the Real Estate Award by employing Ms Hutton under an oral contract and not a written one, which stipulated she was to be paid only a portion of her sales commission and the agency would keep the rest.
She alleges she had an oral contract with Mr Redman that she would be paid 45 per cent of the real estate agency’s commission for her property sales.
She states that this is much lower than the “industry standard … of 60-75 per cent” for new sales agents.
She alleges that in accordance with this oral contract, KGBP was due to pay her $105,911 for sales between December 2021 and August 2023 but instead KGBP paid her $81,312.
KGBP deny there was an oral contract and deny they breached the Real Estate Award, and instead state Ms Hutton was employed under a written employment agreement – which was not signed by either party – which set out a “debit/credit system” of wage and commission.
Ms Hutton states in court documents that this is denied and that the purported employment agreement “does not exist”.
Ms Hutton alleges at a May 2, 2023 meeting with Mr Marshall and Mr Barr that the pair “stated that they would not have reviewed Ms Hutton’s employment if she had not made the underpayment complaint”.
This claim is denied by KGBP “as no such statements were made” by Mr Marshall and Mr Barr.
Ms Hutton states in her claim that she told Mr Marshall at this meeting she had downloaded a copy of the clients’ contact details earlier in 2023 as part of her work in assisting KGBP director Danny William Redman, and it was a common practice.
Ms Hutton also states that when she was accused of serious misconduct in May 2023 for downloading the contact list she responded that she had not used the list for any purpose outside of her work at KGBP, nor shared it or printed it.
But in their defence KGBP denies this, alleging Ms Hutton provided “no adequate explanation” for her actions at the May 2 meeting.
After the meeting where she was accused of misconduct Ms Hutton alleges she gave her personal laptop to an IT worker who deleted the copy of the clients’ contact list from her personal laptop, and she was suspended on pay.
The case is due in court before Judge Gregory Egan on January 31 for an interlocutory hearing as KGBP claims she has filed her claim too late, and Ms Hutton is seeking an extension.
Originally published as Ann Josephine Hutton sues Ken Guy Buderim Property for unfair dismissal
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