Printer folds before facing the music

A Federal Court judge has found the owners of Sydney printer, Wongtas, avoided a large workplace discrimination penalty by deliberately placing the company into liquidation. However the two owner-operators were subsequently fined $23,760 for demoting and mistreating a pregnant employee.

Justice Dennis Cowdroy penalised husband-and-wife Ding Guo Wang and Xiao Yu Zhang for breaching the sex and pregnancy discrimination provision in the Fair Work Act. It was the first such case brought under the new national workplace laws.

When clerical assistant Jiongqui Ye, 36, told her employer that she was pregnant and needed to take some of her sick leave in 2009, she was informed that her position might be filled in her absence and she may need to train a replacement.

The court heard that Wongtas had hired a full-time employee within days of this announcement. Upon returning to work after losing the baby, Ye found herself in a much different work environment. Employee-employer relations deteriorated when she was assigned to packaging duties, manual labour for less pay.

After complaining to the ‘Fair Work Info Line’ and a subsequent visit from Fair Work Ombudsman inspectors Ye received a termination letter. The letter advises Ye that her last day of employment would be three days before Christmas and makes reference to her resignation, which she denies.

Justice Cowdroy said Wang and Zhang had "engaged in abusive action against (the employee) on the grounds of her gender and pregnancy" and that their conduct represented a gross violation of their obligations.

Following the FWO investigation it was found that Wongtas had underpaid Ye $6,037.03. She has since received the amount owed.

A month after Wang and Zhang wound up Wongtas, they opened a new print company Wangtas in the same location.