Brisbane City Council is understood to be reviewing the lease agreements on prime CBD locations with Mantle Group, pending the results of the investigations into its controversial staff payment arrangements.
Last month news emerged that the Mantle Group had dismissed hundreds of employees, supposedly to avoid paying entitlements such as penalty rates.
This development came in the wake of reports that the Group’s head of HR, Darren Latham, had been referred to police by the Fair Work Commission (FWC). The FWC had determined that Latham had deliberately provided “false and misleading information” in seeking their approval for the company’s Hot Wok Agreement in 2021, which was recently overturned, prompting the mass dismissals.
Back in 2019 Brisbane mayor Adrian Schrinner announced that the council would review the Mantle Group’s commercial agreements if allegations were proven that workers were being exploited. Some are due to end as soon as November 2024.
Recent developments have prompted calls for the review of the leases. United Workers Union argued that communities expect companies granted government contracts or leases “should do the right thing”.
The Guardian reports a statement from Mantle Group says they “completely reject” the findings of the FWC, and a spokesperson relayed that having received advice from a leading barrister that the FWC statements are “erroneous” they are confident all the FWC decisions “will be quashed by the federal court”.
It is stated that the conclusions regarding Latham “are wrong and biased” and reports being circulated about their new enterprise agreement contain “factual inaccuracies” and that casual workers “have and will continue” to be paid penalty rates.
The Group says it plans to seek to overturn the Commission’s recent findings over staff payments.
