My wife was given a form from her work that they were just told to sign. However, there was a lot of fine print. She's in retail.
There are a few questionable points which I want to ask people's expert advice on.
- There is one 10 minute paid rest break if your work is 4 to less than 7 hr and two 10 min rest breaks if 7hr or more. Please take the the rest break yourself as we do not have record of whether you have taken it.
Well no one at work knew about this 10 minutes ever! On query with the manager they were told "the 10 min rest break is for toilet break or smoko break which everyone has been taking". The manager said as soon as they leave the shop to go to the toilet, that is the 10 minutes. The 10 minutes is a guideline so people wont abuse and take more than 10 minutes toilet. A quick search on google seems to indicate that going to the toilet is not part of this 10 minutes.
Next point is this
- If I am required to work over 76 ordinary hours per fortnight, I understand and agree that my hourly rate will be more than that required by the award so that the overtime rule as specified in clause 2.1 (which they didn't provide) will not be followed. By signing this for, I agree to this in accordance to clause 5.1 (again not provided) of the award and I understand that I will be better off overall with a higher hourly rate.
Again no staff have ever been paid an "extra" amount if they work over 76 ordinary hours e.g. 80 ordinary hours. The manager is saying since all the staff are above a level 1 (retail) their hourly pay is higher than the Level 1 award. However I would have thought for example if you are Level 7 ($29), then it is based off that, not based on the pay of Level 1 ($24). They are all getting the stated figures for their level on the award. Not any higher. I would have guessed the minimum hourly rate, is the rate specified at their level, not based on the level 1 rate. Can someone help clarify this?
Last point
- By signing this form, I understand that I will not be paid any leave loading because I will be paid at a higher rate which is more than enough to cover leave loading.
They are comparing the pay of a Level 7 etc again to the base Level 1 pay.
I have told her and her collegues that they really should be calling fairwork to clarify these questions but they all seem a bit apprehensive to do so. Supposedly the manager pressured a few of the staff just to quickly sign the form too.
I used to work in retail
Yes speak to fair work but also see the award associated to their changes. Their policies cannot be worse than what the award state.
For point 1 about breaks, this is fairly common with 1 X paid 10 minute break under 4 hours and 2 X paid 10 minute breaks if the shift ends after 4 hours not at exactly 4 hours.
My ex manager used to use this is for smoko breaks etc, this is technically true cause you can do whatever you want in those 1 or 2, 10 minute breaks.
But toilet breaks should not be just in those 10 minutes, you should be able to go to toilet whenever you can, but I forgot if there is a clause in the award for this on what's reasonable.