Uniti co-founder Sasha Baranikow ‘not sacked over relationship status’
Adelaide broadband provider Uniti Wireless deny claims it fired co-founder Sasha Baranikow over her relationship status — instead blaming “poor performance” for her dismissal.
Cameron England, Business Editor, The Advertiser | June 28, 2019 9:00pm
Uniti Wireless has denied the sacking of co-founder Sasha Baranikow had anything to do with her relationship breakdown, and said it was due to her “poor performance and unsuitability for the job’’.
In five separate defences lodged against Ms Baranikow’s Fair Work claim against the company she and former partner Che Metcalfe founded in 2013, the company and its senior management and directors have denied she was unfairly dismissed.
Ms Baranikow and Mr Metcalfe were fired the day after Uniti listed on the ASX on February 13.
The shares have since gone on to increase in value six-fold after dipping sharply after the sackings.
They are currently trading at $1.89, compared with the 25c listing price.
Ms Baranikow has alleged she was bullied into changing her employment contract and that her “marital status” was a key reason she was fired from the ASX-listed company.
The company says that’s not so.
“ (Uniti) admits that the applicant was advised that her employment was terminated for reasons including a lack of skills and experience. The first respondent … says there were a number of reasons why the applicant’s employment was terminated, which related to her poor performance and unsuitability for the position,’’ the statement of defence for the company says.
These included:
— the culture and behaviour of the business;
— financial condition of the business and the measures taken to address this;
— past capital and operating expenditure decisions which we are trying to fix;
— future strategy of the business to expand products and nationally;
— expectations of the shareholders;
— lack of the applicant’s skills as a chief operating Officer (COO);
— lack of the applicant’s customer acquisitions skills;
— a belief that former CEOS /founders should or do not commonly remain in a
business following IPO (initial public offer).
Ms Baranikow has alleged that her “marital status was a substantial and operative reason for the termination of her employment’’ but the company and its officeholders deny this.
While Ms Baranikow and Mr Metcalfe were married in September 2018, their relationship has since come to an end.
Ms Baranikow says she was bullied into accepting an employment contract that would pay her less, and also allow for her to be more easily removed from the company.
Ms Baranikow claims that what director John Lindsay allegedly said in an email was “clumsy bullying” on the part of a shareholder led her to agree to a lesser salary and a contract that allowed for her to get just one month’s notice.
Both the company and Mr Lindsay’s defence “admits to sending an email to the applicant and others dated 29 August 2018, but denies the characterisation of the email’’.
The statement of claim says that Ms Baranikow accepted a lesser salary of $180,000, increasing to $200,000 post-IPO, and could be terminated with just one month’s notice
It is also alleged that Uniti’s statements to Ms Baranikow about why she was terminated do not match what it has told the ASX about the process, and with what was in the company’s fundraising prospectus.
“The reasons for termination based on a lack of skills and experience that were given by the second respondent (chief executive Michael Simmons) in the meeting on 14 February 2019 are inconsistent with the information provided in the prospectus,’’ the statement of claim says.
“The first respondent held continuous disclosure obligations during the IPO process and did not change its position in respect of the applicant’s skills and experience as at the time of listing of the respondent on 13 February 2019.’’
The company admits it had obligations to the ASX, but responded to these allegations that “the paragraph does not contain any allegation of fact, is embarrassing or irrelevant, and in
any event denies the remainder of the allegations’’.
Ms Baranikow is seeking compensation for economic loss, non-economic loss, and pecuniary penalties, as well as a declaration that the company and its directors contravened the Fair Work Act.
