Isaac
Years ago

Jason Smith and Kings in pay dispute

Jason Smith is taking the Sydney Kings to the Industrial Relations Commission with the support of his union:

The Sydney Kings have failed to pay former captain Jason Smith thousands of dollars, and controversial club owner Tim Johnston now faces being stripped of the NBL franchise.

Smith is contracted to the Kings until June 30 but part of his salary stopped flowing into his bank account when it was revealed the South Dragons were interested in recruiting the Boomers star.

In an emailed statement last night, Mike Wrublewski, described as an NBL delegate for the Kings, said the club intended to resolve the dispute soon.

"Jason Smith has been paid his base salary as per his contract," Wrublewski said. "Discussions have been underway with Jason in relation to agreeing what additional work he may have done beyond his contracted obligations, and the value of this work, if any. As agreed with the NBL, the default deadline for a resolution on this is next Friday and we have every intention to resolve the issue by this deadline."

Where this may quickly become interesting is if the work "beyond his contracted obligations" are perks outside of the salary cap and the contract lodged with the NBL...

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AlCapone
Years ago

Very interesting. Does this mean he had the classic 2 contracts. The "official NBL one" and the "other one". The "other one" been for "additional work". My understanding is that another club in financial trouble did not honour the "other one" contract either.

Whole can of worms being opened.

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Anonymous
Years ago

NBL may not be able to enforce the payment of any 'other' contract, but if it is another official contract with an employer then there are people MUCH bigger than the NBL that can and will enforce it. Also noted in the article is that NO kings employee has received their super payments in the last year, big trouble if this is not rectified in time. With all this BS going on im suprised only so few players bailed on the club.

Reply #186461 | Report this post

Anonymous
Years ago

It's his fault for dealing illegally with the Kings. Kings should only pay him what it says on the official contract. (Nothing above $200,000)

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Fill Smythe
Years ago

186461, if Super payments are not up to date, and complaints are laid, the ATO handles it; and they rarely lose a case.
Penalties range from fines to foreclosure.

Reply #186540 | Report this post

Anonymous
Years ago

If the ATO gets involved, have a look at players records etc, and any of it goes public... that's where it could get interesting for the NBL.

Reply #186562 | Report this post

Camel Toe
Years ago

Would be great for the other clubs who are not breaking the cap.

The only way the cap will become enforcable is if a player and club are charged with tax evasion.

Reply #186575 | Report this post

Isaac
Years ago

As long as Smith is paying the ATO correctly, he's fine. He can tell the NBL his contract is $150k but report $250k to the ATO and be OK.

Reply #186577 | Report this post

Panther
Years ago

Come on people let's get real. His "other" contract as you put it, which is for work outside of his NBL duties would be in the form of camps, clinics, marketing, turning off the stadium lights, etc. It's obvious that a lot of the stuff they would've put down on his job description he wouldn't realistically have to do. But now the club is struggling, have a new owner and Jason has bailed, it would be very easy for the new owner to now say, "well what have you done lately?". This will be resolved out of court and will be less than what is owed to Jason, as he would know he doesn't really have a leg to stand on!

Reply #186578 | Report this post

JudgeJudy
Years ago

In contract law there are certain elements of a contract that must exist for a contract to be legally enforcable. The nature of the these contracts leads me to believe that they are not legally enforcable. At best they are "gentleman's agreements". Players should understand that the NBL approved contracts are there "legal contracts" and anything else is just an unguaranteed bonus payment.

Reply #186584 | Report this post

DICKO
Years ago

A verbal agreement, where both parties are completely understanding of the conditions, is ABSOLUTELY enforcable by law. Irrespective of any other contracts that might exist.

He may not get much joy from the NBL, but LEGALLY he is owed whatever the agreement was if he performed the tasks that were spelt out.

Reply #186596 | Report this post

Bake
Years ago

A verbal agreement is only as good as the paper it is written on. Unless there is an eye witness.

Reply #187084 | Report this post

Bballfan
Years ago

You guys are so way off base here!!He is owed what was part of his salary..above board and legit on paper, in contract. And frankly, $200K ...Jason would LOVE THAT!!, He would also LOVE to know who in Australia would pay him that, and he would then be on a plane to that city as fast a his size 15 feet could carry him!!NBL players are the lowest paid pro sportsmen in the country, get a grip people!!

Reply #187937 | Report this post

Hoops

Jason Smith and Kings in pay dispute

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