Patties was bought by private equity giant Pacific Equity Partners in 2016. Fairfax Media has spoken to former Davies workers who each claim they were injured at work and then faced discrimination and bullying intended to get them out of the company. One worker, Nahid (who ask her last name be withheld) dislocated her shoulder when a step ladder slipped out from under her in 2015. She claims management tried to discourage her from having surgery - and the time off work to recover from it - by telling her it would take over a year for insurance to pay out. Nahid said she was also severely rebuked for calling WorkSafe to report an incident in which a colleague was hospitalised after his head was caught in a machine, and claimed she was asked if she knew how much she "cost the company". She said this, along with making a WorkCover claim and asking to become a health and safety representative, triggered a campaign of bullying and harassment. That included losing regular shifts and hours, demotion from team leader to cleaning duties and an instruction from managers to “keep her head down” and to not talk to colleagues.

Eventually the mental stress became too much and, on her doctor's advice, she quit. Loading “I just sat on the floor crying and crying,” Nahid said of her last day at work. Another former employee, Leo Ghasabeh, told Fairfax Media he injured his wrist and knee when he slipped on crumbs in the factory floor. He claims his managers accused him of faking a medical certificate from his GP recommending time off work to recover.

He said he was told he would lose his job if he did not sign a certificate from a different doctor recommended by Davies and who cleared him for work. “I had to sign it because I was scared," said Mr Ghasabeh, who was later removed from the work roster. Another worker, Mansoor, said management did not tell him he could access workers compensation when he damaged three disks in his back after doing repetitive lifting tasks. He was also removed from the roster and said he was now thousands of dollars out of pocket for his own treatment and still lives in pain. Mansoor, who did not want his last name published, said the company preyed on the largely migrant workforce's ignorance about workplace laws and entitlements.

“I had become a liability for them," he said. "They threw me under the bus". Fairfax Media has seen documents including doctors certificates to support the employees' claims. After she quit, Nahid discovered Davies had not paid her penalty rates correctly, and has received $10,000 in backpay. The NUW believes she is still owed several thousands more, and that Davies' other workers are owed similar sums. Intimidation claim The NUW is suing Davies in the Federal Court seeking compensation over Nahid’s treatment and fines for breaking workplace laws.

It also wants orders to prevent Davies managers and security guards from listening into discussions between workers and union representatives visiting the site. “The bullying and harassment of workers by Davies Bakery is some of the worst we’ve ever seen,” NUW assistant secretary Susie Allison said. Ms Allison said security guards hired by Davies had attended and taken notes at meetings between workers and union organisers in an attempt to intimidate workers. On one occasion they had told organisers they were not permitted to sit down and were physically removed from the premises. The union is also targeting the supermarkets that Davies supplies, writing to Woolworths, Coles and Aldi to allege its behaviour breaches their ethical sourcing policies. The three supermarkets each said they were investigating the claims of worker mistreatment in their supply chains.

Allegations denied A spokeswoman for Davies and Patties said the bakery followed appropriate WorkCover practices when workers were injured. The spokeswoman said the company was constrained by privacy laws in discussing individual cases. But it specifically denied Nahid and Mr Ghasabeh's claims and said that it was not aware allegations raised by the other workers. "To Davies Bakery, our staff members are our most important asset and any issues raised by them or their representatives have always been taken seriously," said the company's managing director Mathew Davies.

Davies, which has about 150 employees and made a $4 million profit from revenue of $67 million last financial year according to accounts lodged with the corporate regulator, said it had hired security guards because some NUW representatives were disruptive and had made some staff feel harassed. The underpayment were as a result of an accounting system error and that it had "taken steps to correct any identified underpayment". Patties Foods CEO Paul Hitchcock said: "We know that Davies Bakery takes its staff members' welfare seriously".