Demons accused of wage theft and probity breaches by former CEO

The former chief executive of the Melbourne Demons has claimed he was dismissed after raising concerns about widespread underpayment of administrative staff and complaining about the club’s use of a consultancy firm linked to former premier Daniel Andrews.

The allegations are made in Federal Court documents filed by Paul Guerra, who was abruptly sacked by the Demons’ board in April after just seven months in the role, which had included an annual salary of $757,000 and bonuses.

The claims of wage theft at the Demons could have broader implications for several other AFL clubs, after Guerra raised the matter with the chief people officer at the AFL, Sarah Fair, according to the statement of claim lodged last week.

Melbourne Football Club has not yet had an opportunity to file a defence to Guerra’s statement of claim and his claims have not yet been tested in court. The Age is not suggesting Guerra’s allegations are true, only that they have been made in a court document.

“Ms Fair said that the AFL knows there is a problem across the AFL of clubs applying incorrect awards and the engagement of contractors who may have been employees, and that other clubs were also looking into this issue,” according to court documents.

Within weeks of starting as chief executive, Guerra claims, he was told by general manager of partnerships Donna Kennett that her staff were also required to work on match days and were not compensated.

“Ms Kennett told Mr Guerra words to the effect that this issue had been raised at the club in the past and had always been ‘shut down’,” according to the statement of claim.

Guerra had then taken up the matter with human resources general manager Jess Vandelaak and then chief commercial officer Chris Kearon, who he claims both conceded it was an issue the club had ignored.

Vandelaak also allegedly told Guerra that the club’s administrative staff, who include the executive and events teams, marketing, partnerships, retail and media, were all covered under the same award.

“Guerra became concerned that there was potentially a widespread underpayment problem at the club, specifically that there may have been other modern awards that applied to some administrative staff at the club,” it is alleged in court documents obtained by this masthead.

In February, Guerra appointed Sara Marriott as the club’s new chief people officer and requested she conduct a review to ensure all staff were classified under the correct award and paid their proper entitlements.

However, Guerra claims his concerns were dismissed by several board members, who had insisted all staff payments had recently been found compliant by consultancy giant EY.

Guerra claims on April 20 – about a week before he was sacked – he presented to the board the findings of Marriott’s review, which included the underpayment of six employees, while seven employees had been classified under the wrong award, and other roles needed to be urgently assessed.

“One of the employees who had been underpaid was a person with a disability, this underpayment went back over 10 years, and back-paying this employee may cause complications in relation to Commonwealth government payments th