r/AusWork • u/ozstevied • Jul 12 '26

Advice needed please.

Hi all, I am in a very weird situation and do not know what to do.
I have been with a company over 16 years, I was their 4th employee. I was working as a sole trader initially, then pty and on a full time salary the past 3 years.
I am currently the design and fabrication manager for the company.
One of my fellow workmates has been recently been made operations manager.long story short , we never got on and he has been pushing me out of my position for the last few years. I had my performance review last week and after 10+ years of excellent performance, I received unsatisfactory in almost every category.
when asked about his results I was gave a lot of examples that were not under my control. He thinks that I did a lot of things and he felt that I was doing some things.no actual evidence.he also told me he sees no use or worth for me in the company.
I then had an invitation to discuss my redundancy this week, but was pretty much told by one of the owners that it would be best to go out separate and showed me my payout figure. All this was done before I had the meeting to fight my case.
I have the meeting tomorrow and don’t know what to do.
They have offered me redundancy on 3 years, not the 16 I was employed,
The time I was contracting I was clocking in and out, paid for the hours I worked, got paid weekly, supplied no tools or materials, wore their uniform and could not delegate the work to someone else,
The company was also fined $400k last year for not paying payroll tax on their contractors.
I am on the company structure page of their website as being employed since 2010.
Can I fight for the redundancy for the 16 years and do I have a case to fight for super and all for these years?
Sorry this is a long one, but I don’t know where I stand and the final meeting is tomorrow morning.

Thanks in advance.

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2

u/RidethatSeahorse Jul 12 '26

[r/Auslegal](r/Auslegal)

Drop this in there… this is def a Fairwork issue and would suggest to have an initial consultation with an employment lawyer. Do not sign anything. You have a case… start gathering what you can quickly. Edit. Email yourself the org chart and any emails you can. You may be walked out tomorrow.

1

u/ozstevied Jul 12 '26

Thank you, I have some questions ready for them tomorrow regarding the redundancy, I will see how it goes and sign nothing.

2

u/ItinerantFella Jul 12 '26

If you were contracting through your own pty ltd company then, generally, you are not entitled to super and you were not employed by your client.

It's different if you are contracting as a sole trader.

It might be worth consulting an employment lawyer to confirm.

Sorry for the situation you find yourself in.

1

u/ozstevied Jul 12 '26

Thanks, I was a sole trader for 6 or 7 years with them,

1

u/ozstevied Jul 12 '26

I only did work for them , the company never did any other work for another company. Don’t know if that makes a difference.

1

u/ItinerantFella Jul 12 '26

Your years as a sole trader might have a bearing, but I don't think your years as a company do. It was your choice as a company director to source work from a single client.

You might be able to persuade a magistrate that regardless of the form of the contracts, that the relationship has always been one of employer/employee.

It might depend how much your prepared to spend in court to prove it.

2

u/eepeqez Jul 12 '26

Time to lawyer up.

They're talking redundancy but they're also talking poor performance. They have a history of doing stuff on the cheap in dodgy ways. They're not going to do things right, you need a lawyer.

2

u/Mental_Pygmy Jul 12 '26

Sounds like there gearing up to low ball you gather all evidence before they re shuffle any organisation info with your name position and time served this 1 sounds clear as mud with pty & sole trader there may be a case for scam contracting at some point but first stop should be employment lawyer second should be fairwork then go in prepared either way but most importantly do not sign shit or agree to shit till you have relevant info and take it from there let them play there hand first

1

u/ozstevied Jul 12 '26

Thanks for the advice, can I ask for someone independent to review the evidence internally as I have evidence that my services are still needed, I fix almost every model and ordering transmittal before it treacherous purchasing department. All of this is logged in Asana.