important for workers and those looking for work! (1 Viewer)

[= Jennifer =]

Unpaid Work Trials

There is no such thing as an unpaid trial where an employer requires you to work in a job for a trial period. This is particularly so where the work you perform benefits the employer's business and would otherwise be performed by paid staff.

However, it is possible to work as a volunteer for an organisation, such as a charity, and not be paid for the work that you do.

Each year, the Office of Industrial Relations receives a large number of calls from young people with complaints about unpaid trials, with a sharp rise over the Christmas period.

Here are a few typical examples:

A casual shop assistant with a Sutherland florist who was let go after a three-day 'trial' recovered $162 in unpaid wages after the OIR intervened.
A South Coast transport worker who was put on for two weeks at a 'trial rate' which was below the award covering that work, and did not include overtime and leave entitlements recovered $461.
A casual clerk from East Maitland recovered $131 after a three-day 'trial'.
A waitress from Koolewong recovered $202 following a three-day 'trial' with a restaurant.
A kitchen hand at a nursing home in Armidale recovered $230 for three days work.
If you are required to perform productive work for an employer, you are entitled to be paid proper wages.

Other things to look out for...
employers not giving you job offers in writing
employers not paying you on time
jobs which pay you only by commission
work experience or practical placement which is not recognised or approved of by an educational institution (whether or not as a requirement for the award of an academic qualification or for qualification in a recognised trade vocation).
Provided that you are not working as a volunteer, you have the right to be paid for any work you are required to do during the course of a trial period. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!


Work Experience

Trial work must not be confused with unpaid work experience or practical placements, which are usually registered and administered through an educational institution. Those doing work experience or practical placements may be allowed to observe, or to participate in, any element of work or workplace activities in accordance with the academic or course requirements of the institution.

 

[ur_inner_child]

good work jen!

 

[braindrainedAsh]

Yeah the unpaid trial thing is such a scam, it sucks so much, especially if you are already quite experienced.

 

[Trogie]

Unpaid Work Trials

There is no such thing as an unpaid trial where an employer requires you to work in a job for a trial period. This is particularly so where the work you perform benefits the employer's business and would otherwise be performed by paid staff.

Hey, it's good that you created this thread because unpaid trials really should be discouraged.
For my current casual job (cashier) I had to do a 4 hour unpaid trial, and since I've been working there I've seen something like 5 or 6 new employees also doing unpaid trials. Their reasoning was "because it's only a trial you won't be paid for it"...I mean come on, you have to be paid for all work completed.
I know it wasn't a lot of hours but it builds up over a number of different people. The worst thing is this company isn't a small company struggling to break even, it's a market leader and listed on the ASX so I don't see why they can't have paid trials.

 

[tomorrows_angel]

i never realised that this was illegal. My cousin's first job was as a receptionist with a swimming company. She worked for 4 weeks without getting paid a cent, she gave up and quit. Now she's working at maccas. Then again she said the dude was a total sleaze and kept trying to come onto her...

So for someone to recover unpaid wages, what would they do? Complain to OIR, but how can they prove that they worked there in the first place? Especially since half of the places that do this work on cash in hand...

 

[yenta]

i never realised that this was illegal. My cousin's first job was as a receptionist with a swimming company. She worked for 4 weeks without getting paid a cent, she gave up and quit. Now she's working at maccas. Then again she said the dude was a total sleaze and kept trying to come onto her...

So for someone to recover unpaid wages, what would they do? Complain to OIR, but how can they prove that they worked there in the first place? Especially since half of the places that do this work on cash in hand...

FOUR WEEKS??? That's bullshit, I hope she claims for the money and gets it all, plus more, what a fucked up business. You guys should go around spreading the bad word about this business so it ends up closing down. 4 weeks is completely unfair

 

[tomorrows_angel]

FOUR WEEKS??? That's bullshit, I hope she claims for the money and gets it all, plus more, what a fucked up business. You guys should go around spreading the bad word about this business so it ends up closing down. 4 weeks is completely unfair

yeah she's only in year 10. She was working the whole weekend for 4 weeks and got nothing. this was only about 2 or 3 months ago. don't know what company it was, but it was a swimming school in castle hill.

 

[iamsickofyear12]

My job offer wasn't in writing.
I don't have a time to get paid, I just get paid randomly.
I'm paid only by commission.
Sometimes I do work and don't get paid for it.

 

[yenta]

yeah she's only in year 10. She was working the whole weekend for 4 weeks and got nothing. this was only about 2 or 3 months ago. don't know what company it was, but it was a swimming school in castle hill.

Poor girl, if I were her I would definitely chase it up. People shouldn't get away with this sort of shit. I live in castle hill, do you know what the swimming school is called? Or where it is?

 

[yenta]

What about this scenario. I started work at a large retail chain approx. 3 weeks ago, have done quite a few shift, and my bank account hasn't shifted a cent. I haven't been paid yet, now Ive given them the benefit of doubt for long enough to get their affairs sorted. Should I bring it up with someone or wait a while longer?

Definitely bring it up now. Three weeks is quite a bit, best to get things sorted asap. I've been screwed a few times by my recruitment agency after I didn't get paid enough a couple of times, and once I got overpaid, but that was just cos of stuff ups with the time sheet. But I found it was a lot easier to get it sorted as soon as I found out, rather than later.

 

[yenta]

My job offer wasn't in writing.
I don't have a time to get paid, I just get paid randomly.
I'm paid only by commission.
Sometimes I do work and don't get paid for it.

What is your job? You get paid cash in hand as well don't you? Sounds like a dodgy business to me

 

[tomorrows_angel]

Poor girl, if I were her I would definitely chase it up. People shouldn't get away with this sort of shit. I live in castle hill, do you know what the swimming school is called? Or where it is?

no, don't know what it is... i'll tell her mother to check it out.

and back to my original question... how do you prove that you have worked for the company? if they pay cash in hand, the dude could really easily say that she's never worked there.

to illusionz: Did you give them your TFN, and if so when? cos sometimes if you haven't lodged your TFN with them you won't get paid until they have it. That's what happened when i started at woolies, i didn't get paid for a month as i was waiting for it to come through. Otherwise, definitely go and talk to the cash office/personnel/whatever department that sorts these things out.

 

[tomorrows_angel]

How do you bring up an issue like this and not seem rude though?

I havent been in a situation like this because my wages were paid properly at all my past jobs. I just dont want to create any tension between my self and the shift manager/store manager/whoever I speak to.

Edit- Yes I gave in my TFN and Bank Account details abot 4 days after they were due. My fault I know, but I had assignment hassles with Uni. Thus I have waited 3 weeks without saying a word.

Just feeling uncomfortable because I know that theres a few hundred dollars at stake here.

where exactly do you work? is there a dedicated cash office or personnel dept? Cos if there is you won't need to involve your managers.

otherwise request your pay slips. That's the first thing to do. They have to do payslips and that'll tell you whether or not you've been paid yet. If there are no payslips, then you just tell them that you've worked for x amount of time and haven't recieved any payment yet and ask whether there's a legit reason.

 

[yenta]

You shouldn't feel uncomfortable about asking about it illusionz....you have a right to know where your money is and unless your manager(s) is a fuckwit then I don't think they'd get pissed off or dislike you if you asked them. Just say you haven't been paid any money yet and you're wondering if you were supposed to be paid already or not.

 

[sugaryblue]

wow this is a really good post!

does that mean that, umm... since my ex-boss has underpaid me (cash in hand) while using my tax number, i can actually sue him and get my money back?

 

[tomorrows_angel]

wow this is a really good post!

does that mean that, umm... since my ex-boss has underpaid me (cash in hand) while using my tax number, i can actually sue him and get my money back?

technically yeah you should be able to. But what i don't get is how you can actually prove that you're working for a company and that you've done the hours you're claiming to. Unless you keep some kind of a log or journal, and even that means very little.

 

[yenta]

technically yeah you should be able to. But what i don't get is how you can actually prove that you're working for a company and that you've done the hours you're claiming to. Unless you keep some kind of a log or journal, and even that means very little.

Yeah, hence why you shouldn't do cash in hand jobs. If you tried to get your money through the OIR your ex-employer would probably just deny you worked for them. Hence I reckon a better strategy is to go to your ex-employer and blackmail them into giving you your money . Say "if you don't give me the money you should've paid me, I'll dob you into the ATO!" (seeing as though paying cash is illegal cos they prob. get away with not paying payroll tax).

 

[tomorrows_angel]

Yeah, hence why you shouldn't do cash in hand jobs. If you tried to get your money through the OIR your ex-employer would probably just deny you worked for them. Hence I reckon a better strategy is to go to your ex-employer and blackmail them into giving you your money . Say "if you don't give me the money you should've paid me, I'll dob you into the ATO!" (seeing as though paying cash is illegal cos they prob. get away with not paying payroll tax).

that's what i thought. the chances of recovering lost wages that way must be pretty slim. The employer would just deny you ever worked there. Though i have to admit that when i was working (woolies, myer, swot shop) i always kept records of the times i'd worked and check them against my pay slips. Amazing how many discrepancies there can be...

And blackmail probably isn't the best option...

 

[yenta]

that's what i thought. the chances of recovering lost wages that way must be pretty slim. The employer would just deny you ever worked there. Though i have to admit that when i was working (woolies, myer, swot shop) i always kept records of the times i'd worked and check them against my pay slips. Amazing how many discrepancies there can be...

And blackmail probably isn't the best option...

Yeah, you'd have to prove you worked for them. Unless the employer kept a record themselves of when you worked (but even then couldn't they just hide it and say they don't have a record?), then I'd imagine it would be very hard to prove you worked there.
(blackmail thing was a joke btw )

 

[tomorrows_angel]

Yeah, you'd have to prove you worked for them. Unless the employer kept a record themselves of when you worked (but even then couldn't they just hide it and say they don't have a record?), then I'd imagine it would be very hard to prove you worked there.
(blackmail thing was a joke btw )

ok so basically it's impossible to prove you ever worked for a small company like that, let alone that you worked set hours. In big companies it's easy... there are copies of rosters, and head office has the rosters too. plus there are always people who've seen you there and can verify you were working then.

oh and another one of my cousins took on a large hotel in sydney for lost wages and recovered them. but it cost her heaps of time and effort to get it back, along with threats from the company that if she'd do it, they'd get her back some how, and she'd never get paid out.