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Embattled mining company AusGold is facing legal action again with eleven employees saying they have not been paid since June and up to their termination in October.
Key points:
- Eleven more former employees at AusGold's Tibooburra mine plant claim to be owed tens of thousands of dollars
- Some former employees have successfully received a 'default judgement' against Ms Zou, who was not represented in court
- An AusGold spokesman says its records show payments have been made
It is the second wage dispute the company has faced in as many years.
Former Tibooburra mine plant operator Gordon McLellan said the company's director has not responded to emails, phone calls or text messages to address employees' queries.
"We just kept getting emails from her assistant saying 'thank you for your patience' and 'Sally's doing her best to rectify it all'," Mr McLellan said.
AusGold's eccentric director Sally Zou is well known for having paid former employees with backpacks full of cash.
Former mine supervisor Peter Doran, said he just wants to be paid.
"All I'm after, and same as the other ten of us, is what we're actually owed so that we can move on," Mr Doran said.
"I'm owed over $50,000, plus superannuation, which I was never paid during my whole employment," he said.
Other employees have corroborated the claim that they were never paid superannuation.
AusGold denies not paying wages
A spokesman from AusGold asked the ABC to "double check if employees stand by their claim that they haven't been paid since June".
"It is concerning that these claims have been put to you when AusGold records show payments have been made," he said.
Mr McLellan says these records of payment are false.
"We got a pay slip for May — well that was legitimate — then we got a pay slip for June in mid-July along with our PAY-G slip.
"It said we'd been paid for May and June, but we received nothing for June. So that, in my mind, would be a false document."
Mr Doran maintains he has not received a cent in wages or superannuation since June.
Only one employee out of the eleven, Daniel Ben Philip, has received what he estimated to be four out of six months of wages owed.
"I never got a payslip so I don't even know what that money was for … but I never got paid super or annual leave," he said.
'Not the first time this has happened'
Mr Doran said he was unaware that AusGold's previous Tibooburra crew were in the middle of a legal battle with their former employer.
"When I started out there in January, we were told the previous crew didn't fulfil their obligations and were terminated. We're still chasing them up," he said.
Lee Rossetti was the general manager of AusGold until April 2017 when he and his crew got laid off.
He is currently in the process of suing AusGold and Sally Zou for unpaid wages, superannuation and accrued annual leave he says he is owed.
Mr Rossetti's statement of claim said there have been breaches of his contract, the Fair Work Act and Australian Consumer Law.
Other former employees Michael Walden and Stephen Wall successfully received a 'default judgement' against Ms Zou, who didn't show up for the hearing at Broken Hill Local Court.
Mr Walden and Mr Wall were awarded three months of unpaid wages and superannuation, which they are yet to receive.
"Exactly what she's done to this new crew, it's what she's done to us," Mr Walden said.
The latest contingent of AusGold employees have taken the matter to the Fair Work Ombudsman.
A spokesman from the Fair Work Ombudsman confirmed the organisation was providing assistance to workers in relation to the matter.
"As the situation is ongoing, it would be inappropriate for the Fair Work Ombudsman to comment further at this time," the spokesman said.
Sally Zou nowhere to be found
Despite countless attempts to be contacted by her former employees, Sally Zou has remained silent.
A spokesman from AusGold told the ABC that Ms Zou was in the country, at her residence in Sydney.
"When you talk to her, she seemed genuinely nice … I mean, she was my boss, and you give people the benefit of the doubt, don't you?" Mr Philip said.
The ABC has requested an interview with Sally Zou to which she has not responded.
Topics: mining-industry, business-economics-and-finance, mining-rural, broken-hill-2880, tibooburra-2880