…Researched and contributed by Enitan Thompson.
Olympic swimmer Michael Klim, who founded and sold a skincare company named Milk & Co, won a $152,050.76 payout after he was abruptly sacked by the business in 2021.
Klim sued the company in the Federal Court claiming unpaid salary, annual and long service leave, and three months pay in lieu of notice.
Klim started Milk & Co in 2006 and sold it to a group of Chinese businessmen in 2017.
He was retained as managing director on a $200,000-a-year salary but was sacked on February 26, 2021, which the lawsuit claimed caused him “shock, distress, and humiliation.”
Klim was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, a rare autoimmune disorder in the arms and legs, in 2020, which prevented him from leaving Bali, where he has lived for many years.
Klim’s Legal Battle for Unpaid Entitlements
Klim had been trying to recover $152,050.76 in entitlements, including $16,859.85 in salary, $31,801.78 in annual leave, $37,980.33 in long service leave, and $50,000 for three months pay in lieu of notice.
He filed a breach of contract writ on March 16, 2021, and the case was dropped through a notice to the court less than four weeks later.
Klim’s lawyer, John Gdanski, confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that Klim was paid what he demanded in the lawsuit.
Klim’s contract reimbursed him up to $30,000 a year to commute between Australia and Bali, according to the statement of claim.
Company Disintegration and Legal Disputes
Unrelated court documents revealed that the Chinese buyers acquired the company to expand their ventures into Asia.
However, the company disintegrated within a few years, and its website no longer works, while its social media profiles have not been updated since last year.
Instead, there are comments from frustrated customers wondering why the company’s products are always out of stock, and no one ever replied to them.
A rare reply to an Instagram comment last February blamed Covid outbreaks for products being unavailable.
Yan Zeng is the sole director of the company, and Mengyao Ling, Jie Cai, Xin He, and Hai Zhang are previous directors.
A holding company named Aubrands Pty Ltd was set up weeks before the acquisition as a means of buying Milk as a subsidiary.
Yan Zeng controls the majority of shares, while former shareholders include past directors of Milk & Co Pty Ltd.
Other court documents detailed legal and financial disputes between the former directors, which led to some of them being ousted.
Aubrands was also sued by the Wizard Pharmacy chain in Perth in 2020 and Tracktion Sales & Marketing in Melbourne in 2018.
Klim’s Health and Business Lifestyle Changes
Klim presented his departure from his company as voluntary and related to his health, as opposed to being suddenly sacked by the new owners.
In an interview, he revealed that his mobility was so affected by CIDP that he could no longer leave Bali and make trips to Australia as he previously did several times a year for both work and treatment.
He said that he had pulled his focus to the swim academy in Bali, where he runs a bunch of camps and clinics.
Klim also simplified his lifestyle, and he no longer does 20 return trips to Australia a year for work and other things.
He said that unless he could give himself 100%, he did not want to do it.
Klim’s departure from Milk & Co also had a financial impact on him, given that there is a level of investment involved.