The Australian Building and Construction Commission has commenced Federal Circuit Court proceedings against labour hire company ADADN Pty Ltd alleging failures to comply with formal requests to provide documents in investigations into alleged underpayment of wages and unlawful industrial action.

ADADN Pty Ltd, based in Brisbane, has previously supplied building employees to undertake building works on construction sites in Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory.

According to the Commission, two written notices were issued to the firm including one on 9 June 2020 as part of an underpayment of wages investigation, requiring ADADN to provide documents on 10 July 2020. The second written notice was issued on 3 August 2020 as part of a separate unlawful industrial action investigation and required the company to provide the documents by 24 August 2020.

Despite the two formal requests, over a three-month period, the ABCC alleges the company failed to comply on both occasions.

The Commission alleges the conduct of ADADN Pty Ltd contravenes a subsection of the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act 2016 by failing to comply with the notices. The ABCC is also seeking a court order that its legal costs be paid by the respondent.

ADADN is the subject of a separate court proceeding commenced by the Fair Work Ombudsman for allegedly failing to pay compensation to an unfairly dismissed worker.