Australian casino operator Crown Resorts has once again found itself at the heart of a serious controversy after a former employee has brought the company to court, claiming that she had witnessed multiple instances of poor occupational health and safety (OHS) measures on property.
Australian news outlet The Australian Financial Review reported today that Audrey Gatt had worked for the gambling operator for five months before she was dismissed in April for “unsatisfactory performance.” Ms. Gatt hired a lawyer to help her convince a Federal Circuit Court that her contract had been terminated unlawfully. She requested compensation for being left unemployed and a maximum penalty for Crown.
Ms. Gatt told court that while employed at the Australian operator, she had filed more than 20 OHS complaints, some of which many would find quite shocking, and that had been the actual reason for her dismissal.
A former first aid manager at the casino operator, Ms. Gatt had witnessed an instance of domestic violence, which the casino staff had been told to ignore as it had involved a politician from Southeast Asia. The politician had threatened to cease his visits at Crown’s casino, if the occurrence had been publicized. As a result, the woman involved in the incident had been left to attend to herself.
Another instance had involved a chef who had sustained severe burns but had not been allowed to leave his workplace before the day’s end and go to the first aid office to receive proper treatment.
Ms. Gatt also said in her court filing that other employees had voiced similar concerns but had all been ignored by senior staff.
Reached for comments, a Crown Resorts spokesperson told media that they could not provide any details as the matter is currently reviewed in court.
Crown Resorts recently received a much-anticipated closure of another court case it had been involved in. Last October, 19 staff members were arrested in China in a series of police raids for illegally promoting casino services in the country, an activity which is deemed illegal.
Three of the company’s employees were released on bale shortly after, but the other 16 remained detained in two Shanghai facilities. Late in June, the local court sentenced ten of the staffers to nine months in prison from the date they were arrested. The other six, among whom was Crown’s Head of VIP Gaming, Jason O’Connor received ten-month sentences.
The Mainland China arrests hit the casino operator’s profitability almost beyond repair. Crown faced considerable withdrawal of VIP players from its domestic casinos and saw its shares plummet considerably in the weeks and months after the incident. As a result, the company decided to sell its international business and to only focus on its domestic operations in a bid to improve its financial and general status.
Currently, Crown operates two integrated resorts in Melbourne and Perth and is set to commence construction on a A$2-billion plus hotel and casino complex in Sydney.
