Contact about award breaches!

[costargh]

Hey
I'm trying to find out the state or federal body that I can contact if I have a complaint about an employer deliberately underpaying staff constantly.

My employer chooses to go against our award (refuses to pay overtime for extra hours worked, if we are instructed to start early they simply change the time we started work to the normal time we should have started [eg. if we start at 4pm and are their early and start at 3pm, they will go onto the computer and change the time we started back to 4pm so they don't have the pay us])

The breaches at my workplace are disgusting. I have read emails from the district manager instructing restaurant managers "not to pay overtime" to employees (for full time employees, even if you work 48 hours they will go into the computer and change ur hours back to 38).

This problem has escalated so dramatically that some days people work 14 hours (which is sposed to be paid out at a higher hourly rate) and then they are only paid for 8.
It makes me sick and I've had enough. I am fortunate to be very well informed about matters and I constantly remind the managers not to touch my hours on the computer or else I will complain (i have a print out of my hours which I keep while others throw it out)
So I am doing this so hopefully it can stand as a legacy to the current employees at my workplace and future employees that they do not have to put up with an employer who continuously breaches the award they are bound to.



Basically, can someone tell me which federal or state body I can contact to "dob" in my dodgy employer?

[Collin Li]

Not sure, but the ones who are getting jibbed should watch their own hours.

[costargh]

Not sure, but the ones who are getting jibbed should watch their own hours.

Most of the employees are very young for starters and are ignorant to the modern day work practices imposed by large organisations. They live in this fake world where they believe that ethical management is at the heart of employers when in truth it is not.

The problem has to be fixed, the problem shouldn't have to be monitored by the people who are being stolen from. And thats basically what this is, theft! Just on a much larger scale than one could ever imagine. It should be dealt with through the law when gross breaches such as this are constant and continuous.

How about the Workplace Ombudsman?
http://www.wo.gov.au/asp/index.asp

[Collin Li]

If they are too thick to realise they're being underpaid, then that's not my problem, and I don't think I should be funding a watchdog to pay for someone else's stupidity. I'm sorry if I'm not of any practical help, but I am against this in principle.

[costargh]

Well, I'm all for the protection of the vulnerable. Its embedded in my values to help those who are at a disadvantage in society.

[Collin Li]

I am not criticising you. It is perfectly justified for someone like you, who (will) pays taxes to use some government watchdog that the government has spent our money on for your own interests. I am just against the existence of any government watchdog set up to answer to these excludable problems.

[jess3254]

Ok, I recommend contacting Job Watch and asking for their advice. It’s an employment legal rights centre thing.
They can give you information about where to direct your complaint

Here’s there website:
http://www.job-watch.org.au/

[costargh]

Aw shit!
I made a complaint with the Workplace Ombudsman and emailed my resignation to my employer tonight.
But stupid me in the mood I was in forgot to consider that maybe it would have been best to make the complaint after I received my annual leave they owe me (ill receive it once I am finished my employment there).

Any chance they might withhold the 950 bucks they owe me in annual leave once they find out I  submitted a complaint?

[jess3254]

I'm pretty sure they shouldn't be able to withhold money they owe you...

Defs ask the workplace thingy whether they are able to do this, know your rights before a situation like that even occurs. Get proper advice...

Good luck.

[RD]

Time for a new job me thinks.

emailed my resignation to my employer tonight.

Wise move. I'd be pretty pissed if that was happening to me.

[costargh]

I don't need a new job at the moment and now that Ive thought about it, refusing to pay someone their entitlements because they have made a complaint to a federal subordinate authority would almost definitely be illegal!

[jess3254]

I don't need a new job at the moment and now that Ive thought about it, refusing to pay someone their entitlements because they have made a complaint to a federal subordinate authority would almost definitely be illegal!

Yes, exactly. Theoretically, it would be illegal... surely.  But get advice about it.

[Mao]

i'm sure the watch-dog will not reveal your personal identity?


by the way, I know places that do things very similarly, but prior to filing this complaint, costa, have you carefully read over your contract?

there might be a loophole that you have overlooked that states these apparently disgusting procedures, and you have probably signed it too. businesses from my experience are very cunning like this (especially in retail)
that calls for union action rather than watch-dog.


if that is the case (and these businesses are very cunning), the case can be analogized to jumping in a grave then complain  about it: no one forced you in the first place.

I strongly suggest you to carefully read the contract before you take it any further.



[if i remember rightly, you are at Hungry Jacks? I also remember that contract does list something among those lines. Its a very well-established business, and I *dont* think there's anything illegal. even though the franchises themselves may vary slightly, they are all largely the same: scam the workers as much as they can. and you signed for that in your yellow employment pack...]

[costargh]

Nah me and my friend have read through our contract and it clearly states in sections "if working over certain amount of hours u must get time and half etc"
I have even spoken 2 a manager about it (who has suggested I follow this up (shes not in charge of labour))
She told me that they rip us off etc.

[Mao]

Nah me and my friend have read through our contract and it clearly states in sections "if working over certain amount of hours u must get time and half etc"

sounds like a debate we had at my previous work[HJ berwick].

is your store owned by the same guy who owns berwick and narre? [i'd presume so] (geoff manson?)
i've had a chat to my senior supervisor [the guy above store manager] about this, and he explained to me that the contract allowed for this kind of stuff. [at that point of time in the past, i felt similar]

i dont know... good luck with it, but i really doubt it'll go very far. the thing is there are MANY franchises around, and if this happens at one store, its bound to have happened at others (i.e. mine AND yours), and if it was *THAT* wrong and illegal, someone would've already said something, but that doesnt seem to be the case.


by the way, are you casual? how come you have annual leave?