If you have a feeling something is not quite right, it often isn’t.
It pays to ask a specialist to review your Employment Agreement, challenge or set aside unfair contracts, review your working conditions to ensure you are being treated correctly, etc.
Our work is informed by:
- The Fair Work Act 2009
- Industrial Relations Act
- Occupational Health & Safety Act
- Privacy Laws
- Information about the various awards (State and Federal)
In this case
Leah is a barista. She was underpaid 47 cents per hour because her employer had incorrectly classified her. The error lead to underpayments of Leah’s ordinary hourly rate, as well as her weekend and public holiday penalty rates over several months.
After being informed through an intervention by the Fair Work Ombudsman, the café repaid her, as well as remedied the underpayment of 5 other café workers.
If you work in the restaurant industry, check with us that you are being paid correctly and in accordance with the Restaurant Industry Award 2010.
Whether underpayments are careless or malicious, they are wrongs that need to be made right.
In this case
Dean had worked at a coal mine for 17 years when he organised a protest against cuts to laundry services at the mine. The laundry services had been a condition of Dean and others’ enterprise agreement for many years.
Dean was initially suspended on full pay, and later sacked, with the employer claiming among other things that the publicity from this industrial action had damaged their reputation. The Fair Work Commission ruled this was adverse action and an unlawful dismissal and Dean was reinstated and repaid for lost work.
It is unlawful for employers to retaliate when workers stand up for their rights. If you are being threatened or intimidated for taking industrial action, ask us to assess your matter. You might be protected.
For employers, it is always recommended to consult an experienced advocate when making changes that will affect your workforce. Head to our employer page to find out more.
