Wage Theft or Normal?

Lamber1966 on 07/12/2022 - 18:31

Hi Ozbargainer. Firstly sorry for hijacking a non bargain related post.

I am new here looking for advice about something related to wage/pay.

I am a part time employee for an Australian Chocolate gourmet company. I have questions that I think the company may or may not paying proper wages towards their so called part tiime workers.

1st question. On Good Friday 2022 our stores was closed and I believe under National Award Agreement those who usually worked on Friday meant to be paid base pay rate for the ordinary hours that staffs would have normally worked. But None of us part-timer being paid. This is the same for other public holiday when the stores are closed. Am I wrong about this? I have worked with this famous chocolate company for 4 years, am I a victim of wage theft as well as my other colleagues?

2nd question. We are under an Enterprise Agreement and is there an expiry on such agreement? coz under this agreement there are no penalty rates for public holiday or saturday and not sure if a $23.00 per hr pay is a fair pay at all in this current situation. I think there is a few dollars more for sunday rates but nothing significant. How long is Enterprise agreement last? is there any way to contact or find out more about this sort of wages situation?

3rd question. Not really related about wage or pay. Is all or most retail shop staffs would brag about how much sales they making per day out of customers. Because in here we would take photos and brag about it. For example, monday morning person xxx make $800 out of 1 customers and we would take photo and brag on the company app chat group. Whatever massive sale receipt photo etc etc. Is this quite normal among other retail shop? I just feel sorry for the customers that I have to upsell all sort of stuff otherwise the manager or assistant would be on to you.

I am not sure If I am brave enough to bring this up to my manager without severe repercussions. Hence asking for some advice from some ozbargainers who have experience in this sort of matters.

Thank you.

Education & Work

Comments

  • jjjaar on 07/12/2022 - 18:37
    +7

    1- if you have a contract that stipulates what days and hours you work, then yes you should be paid these days if they fall on a public holiday and the store is closed. If you don’t have anything signed and it’s just that you typically get those shifts on those days, then I am not sure, but this will be outlined in your agreement.

    2- agreements usually lasts until a new agreement replaces it, unless the agreement itself has a clause outlining when/how it ceases to exist.

    3- the only retail I’ve really worked in is colesworth and when you have hundreds of customers a day, nobody really cares enough to pay attention.

    • Sinnerator on 08/12/2022 - 08:11
      +1

      Also, the contract needs to be 100% lawful, many companies put dodgy stuff in their contracts.

  • Adredocto on 07/12/2022 - 18:40
    +4

    Are you a part time employee in your contract or employed on a casual basis and happen to work regular shifts?

    • amber1966 on 07/12/2022 - 18:46
      +1

      I am a part time with regular shifts but the funny things some other staffs are classified as part time but their shift is not regular. I think this is just one way for the company not to employ casual staff hence cheaper wages.

  • AndyC1 on 07/12/2022 - 18:44
    +1

    First are you a permanent part time or just part time? Do you have set day and hours every week? Do they ask you to work extra hours or change days?

    No one here will have any idea about your EBA as you have not given enough info to see which EBA you are under. You need to look this up yourself. Each EBA is different.

    You need to go back to the initial paperwork you signed when you started to see what you are employment conditions are and also any subsequent EBA info so you can look this up.

    Most part time jobs do not get paid for public holidays as there is extra paid to cover public holidays in the pay.
    Most permanent part time jobs do get paid for public holidays as it is a permanent job and does not include extra pay to cover public holidays, but be aware the public holidays are only paid at normal rates and for the time you normally work on the public holiday.
    If you are a casual then you only get paid for the hours worked.

    • amber1966 on 07/12/2022 - 18:47

      thanks for the info. I found this in fairwork website about NES which supposedly covered EBA as well.

      Under the NES if an employee absent from his or her employment on a day or part-day that is a public holiday, the employer must pay the employee at the employee’s base rate of pay for the employee’s ordinary hours of work on the day or part-day. Noting, however, that if the employee does not have ordinary hours of work on the public holiday, the employee is not entitled to payment. For example, the employee is not entitled to payment if the employee is a casual employee who is not rostered on for the public holiday, or is a part-time employee whose part-time hours do not include the day of the week on which the public holiday occurs.

      This is a minimum entitlement applicable to all employees covered by the national workplace relations system.

      Awards and Agreement can, and often do, provide enhanced entitlements.

      • AndyC1 on 07/12/2022 - 18:50
        +2

        It does NOT cover all employees, only permanent employees and not casuals. You will also find that part time will probably not be covered, unless you have set work days and times.

        I agree Awards and Agreement can, and often do, provide enhanced entitlements compared to EBA's. EBA are designed by Scomo government to screw the workers under the ASSumption they are better.

  • futureminime on 07/12/2022 - 18:49
    +1

    1. If you're part time and not casual then you should get them yes. If you're casual you'll get an additional loading. If you're part time you should get pro-rata'd sick leave and annual leave. If you've been there for 4 years you should be part time and get the day paid if you're normally roster ed on Friday. An exception may be if they rotate your shifts

    2. ^ in addition to jjjaar above, you can search your enterprise agreement and you should be able to find out when it was last updated. If its the enterprise agreement and not an award then its probably been negotiated with a union of some sort. You can always contact them and find out.

    3. Sales is often part of retail jobs, some roles have targets for sales.

    If you are concerned there is an issues there is government resources you can use to check if you aren't confident talking to your manager where you can call them if the information isn't on the website (mostly awards, not enterprise agreements) https://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay-and-wages

    • amber1966 on 07/12/2022 - 19:11

      thanks for the advice.

  • mbck on 07/12/2022 - 19:02

    Sounds like you should move away from selling. That's sort of your job (unless you're working as something else).

  • amber1966 on 07/12/2022 - 19:13

    I love the selling and upselling part. I just want to find out more about the pay side stuff, especially those public holiday pay part.

    • cookie2 on 07/12/2022 - 20:46
      +2

      Join your union and then discuss with a union rep. Public holidays not worked due to closure but part of your regular rostered hrs are to be paid. Ebas can continue once expired pretty much indefinitely and they tend to be worse the older they are (in retail anyway). The retail award has come a long way and it's worth comparing your pay and conditions to the award including loading as there is a rule called Better Off Overall that means you must be better off overall on the eba than the award. It'll take some time but you're the best person to learn about protecting your rights. Also part time contracts should have written and documented set days, where part timers are employed without written and agreed set days, this is not correct. Join union, compare your eba vs the award and then speak with Fair Work but i warn you, at some stage you will have to have an uncomfortable conversation with someone in your workplace and it'll probably be more than 1. Email is always best and document all. And while you don't want to feel forced to leave, have a backup plan so you're not left out in the cold if you decide you want to leave.

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 07/12/2022 - 19:18
    +2

    regrading point 3, no its super common

    famous chocolate company

    i guess it could be worse, you could be paid in cocoa beans like the oompa loompas

    $23.00 per hr pay

    well at least its above min wage… you get paid super and get payslips, right?

    • amber1966 on 07/12/2022 - 19:26

      Yes, it is famous. Super——yes, payslips —— yes.

  • Heaps for Cheaps on 07/12/2022 - 19:34
    +2

    Is it Koko Black? They have been missing orders recently and service/product has gone down so I assume it must be even worse for staff.

    If you are on a part-time contract you must be paid if this was your normally-contracted day.

    • amber1966 on 07/12/2022 - 19:44

      I cannot confirm nor deny. As long as sales are met, that all that matters.

      I dont think asking my manager that we need to be paid on this day coz it is our normally contracted day directly would be the best way. It would be suicide. Nobody braave enough.

      • Heaps for Cheaps on 07/12/2022 - 19:50
        +2

        You could simply email a quick note…

        "Hey Koko Black.

        Just a quick query in regards to my payslip for the pay-period covering April 15, 2022 - Good Friday.

        My regular contracted shift includes Fridays but on this Public Holiday the store was closed yet it looks like I was mistakenly not paid.

        Can you please help rectify this.

        Regards,
        Amber"

        Hopefully they will explain it, and if not, then you, with written proof on hand can get on to the Victorian Wage Inspectorate as in Victoria, knowingly and intentionally underpaying is now a criminal offense…

        Also, when asking for a sample of a sample of honeycomb that is sold by the gram, the staff gave me a piece which was one-third the size of pea… it was almost dust.

        • amber1966 on 07/12/2022 - 19:54

          I cannot confirm nor deny the word after Hey.
          Lets called it
          Hey XXX,

          XXX may reply no. You are not entitled because you are not working on that day.

          few days later may not get shift, or shift got reduced or got pulled by manager about what is the email all about.
          not sure I can handle it.

    • jv on 07/12/2022 - 19:46

      part-time contract

      doesn't work that way for many contractors.

      • amber1966 on 07/12/2022 - 19:50

        not contractors

  • jv on 07/12/2022 - 19:45

    Am I wrong about this?

    Maybe. What did Fair Work say when you called them?

    • amber1966 on 07/12/2022 - 19:49

      I just browse fairwork website. I have not contacted them yet so far. I found something where NES would encapsulate the EBA which if I read correctly I meant to be paid for it and the rest of the staffs that have a normal working day that falls on public holiday where the store are closed.
      However it seems like a lot of staffs being unpaid not just from one store but across other States as well. Imagine adding up all those years being unpaid where I/we should have been paid.

  • randomusername2017 on 07/12/2022 - 20:29

    Check your specific EBA.. there are quite a few workarounds to avoid paying part time staff not working on public holidays. Many have to do with what days/hours have been worked in a rolling 4/6/12 week period. NES is the baseline upon which the EBA was formulated…with the catch all "no worse off" caveat.

  • cupcake on 08/12/2022 - 13:26
    +2

    Please contact the Law Society in your state.
    Request that you be referred to an accredited specialist in Industrial Law.
    Speak to a solicitor about the correct wage, employment contract and underpayment of wages.

    Certainly speak to HR about being paid correctly.
    If employers are doing the wrong thing, and not paying employees properly - then yes, it is wage theft.

    If you think they are not paying up, they can be reported. I know people just leave if they are not treated properly but please report to Fair Work Australia.

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