My Daughter has a casual job, at a local restaurant. Her boss is a bit if a nightmare but the casual setup of the job is appealing to my daughter.
She had Influenza A and a temp of 39, she ended up in the hospital on a drip and he still expected her to come into work that afternoon.
He allowed another worker to come in, serve and prepare food, with the a similar illness, high temp etc, the worker had a mask and ice pack strapped to her head whilst serving customers. He then praises her for her dedication to the job, whilst using my daughter as an example of what not to do. He plays these petty games with the girls alot.
He has now given my daughter less shifts to punish her for not coming in, he is also giving her friend only 2, 2 hr shifts a week because she called in sick for the same illness. Can a casual worker even work a 2 hr shift?
Aside from the girls finding new casual jobs, is there anything else I/we can do? Do we report it and if so, who do you report it to?
Any advice would be helpful, thanks
6 Replies
Contact the health department! If they have any symptoms of illness, such as the flu or gastro, they are not allowed to prepare or serve food. All food handling courses will tell you not to prepare or serve food in any business if you are sick.
Report to the local council for health violations. You can also go through Fairwork and make a complaint but in my experience they don't do much. Minimum shifts depends on the award, I think it is usually 3 hours but look it up and find out. I would suggest she finds another job asap because managers like this don't give good references so she is doing damage to her future job hunting by staying.
In Australia, the minimum is 3hrs.
As for being sick. Expecting your child who has a very contagious virus is irresponsible. I'd contact fair trading and report
It's actually 2 hours now in retail and hospitality for casuals depending on their award agreement.
It's actually 2 hours now in retail and hospitality for casuals depending on their award agreement.
90 percent of the time this problem stems from higher up but it flows through ground level management. I've been in the position as a store manager. You've got "big bosses" or owners who have usually never stepped foot on a shop floor a day in their life, putting you under a ton of pressure to meet KPIs, keep costs low but productivity and morale high.
Not defending this manager's behaviour at all, it's wrong on many levels. It's just not remotely uncommon.
Get in contact with the fair work ombudsman (or whatever your state's equivalent is). Realistically, it's is unlikely to go anywhere though.
Going forward, if she wants to keep working in hospo/retail casually your daughter will need to develop a thick skin, unfortunately it can be brutal so you do need to be able to brush certain shit off.
I'd also encourage her to learn her rights as an employee so she has the confidence to stand up for herself if management tries to take advantage of her.