Casual employment Q's - Perth-WRX.com

apg39 · #1 11-10-2011, 11:04 PM

For anyone that knows:

Yes I know casual is shit, call you up whenever, roster you on whenever etc. But is there some sort of protection or rule against CONSTANTLY changing shifts? As in nearly every day cancelling the shift you are rostered on for & still expecting you to just drop everything to work when they call you next?

Reason being, these last 2 weeks wifey has been rostered on lunches & dinner at local restaurant/motel. Except typically the day before her shifts are changed to something else entirely & they have just taken her off lunches alltogether this week. Not only is it 15 hours of lost $$, but there's no reason & she's apparently their best worker. We are already struggling financially and constantly cancelling shifts is really taking it's toll on us both.

Or is this company just a pack of inconsiderate cunts who think she has no life & nothing to do other than just sit there waiting for the bat signal to appear in the sky so she can work?

Would love to know if there's something she can do aside from look for another job.

sangg-wrx · #2 11-10-2011, 11:25 PM

Damn that sucks!!

Maybe try calling fair work Australia

Home | Fair Work Australia

Good luck!

Mark

Aaron L · #3 11-10-2011, 11:30 PM

As far as i'm aware the boss' only really need to a couple of hours to change the shifts for casuals (i could be wrong). Where i work (will not name) we are struggling to keep our profit and loss down so we have to cut shifts...for example when i started more than a year ago on a saturday we had a good 5/6 people on all day... now we can only afford two people all day and and two people half day...and generally the cheaper(younger) staff get the hours...again to save money...i dunno if there is anything you can really do? maybe ask if she can go part time? i think it's a minimum of 13 odd hours and they will be guaranteed (same times same days etc) and can work up to like 32hours? dunno if this helps but just thought i'd give my two cents

mARC · #4 11-10-2011, 11:43 PM

Hospitality is a weird industry man one day you're refusing patrons due to being overbooked the next day your scratching your head wondering why you've got no bookings.

They could have lost reservations, or alternately they could be employing/training younger staff members, has there been any talk of selling the business, cash flow issues?

The list of reasons could really go on and on.

Hospitality is something I wish I never got into and at the same time gave me a good income during Uni/early stages of my working life its very dog eat dog due to low barriers to entry.

Quote:

Originally Posted by apg39

call you up whenever, roster you on whenever etc. But is there some sort of protection or rule against CONSTANTLY changing shifts? As in nearly every day cancelling the shift you are rostered on for & still expecting you to just drop everything to work when they call you next?

Or is this company just a pack of inconsiderate cunts who think she has no life & nothing to do other than just sit there waiting for the bat signal to appear in the sky so she can work?

I genuinely got flash backs of my days as a waiter/function manager.

Rossco · #5 11-10-2011, 11:52 PM

If she's issued a written roster, the employer is supposed to give her 12 hours notice of any shift/schedule changes......Somewhere with their shit together operates like this.

If there's no roster issued she's essentially 'on call'....And it sucks.

Double check with DOCEP as these things are always changing though.

mARC · #6 11-10-2011, 11:55 PM

You can double check all you want Rossco but whats it going to achieve?

Jezza · #7 12-10-2011, 12:28 AM

The bad side of casual employment... the employee has less rights than a part-time or full-time employee.

I am unsure of notice needed as it may differ between different awards/agreements, but casual staff are barely guaranteed any hours at all under common agreements.

*Edit - just did a bit of reading in the SDA awards.

General retail industry award:
http://www.sda.org.au/images/awards/award60.pdf

Quote:

27.14 Notification of rosters
(a) The employer will exhibit staff rosters on a notice board, which will show for
each employee:
(i) the number of ordinary hours to be worked each week;
(ii) the days of the week on which work is to be performed; and
(iii) the commencing and ceasing time of work for each day of the week.
(b) The employer will retain superseded notices for twelve months. The roster will,
on request, be produced for inspection by an authorised person.
(c) Due to unexpected operational requirements, an employee’s roster for a given
day may be changed by mutual agreement with the employee prior to the
employee arriving for work.
(d) Any permanent roster change will be provided to the employee in writing with
a minimum seven days notice. Should the employee disagree with the roster
change, they will be given a minimum of 14 days written notice instead of
seven days, during which time there will be discussions aimed at resolving the
matter in accordance with clause 9—Dispute resolution, of this award.
(e) Where an employee’s roster is changed with the appropriate notice for a once only
event caused by particular circumstances not constituting an emergency,
and the roster reverts to the previous pattern in the following week, then extra
work done by the employee because of the change of roster will be paid at the
overtime rate of pay.
(f) An employee’s roster may not be changed with the intent of avoiding payment
of penalties, loading or other benefits applicable. Should such circumstances
arise the employee will be entitled to such penalty, loading or benefit as if the
roster had not been changed.

The scope of the award doesn't really cover cancellation of shifts for casuals very effectively...

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