By Nic Carroll
Clearly something is wrong. Though we make up only 16% of the Australian workforce, individuals under the age of 24 make up a disproportionately high 25% of all requests for support to the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), with over 44% of litigations made by the ombudsman concerning a youth employee [1].
While we may be used to a brief skimming over of our award, eba or contract when we get started with a new job, it can be easy to forget the hard-fought rights which employees, and youth employees in particular, deserve under Australian workplace legislation. So without further ado, let’s launch into the 5 most valuable rights that you're gonna need to absolutely smash any job which comes your way:
National Employment Standards
As a casual worker it can be easy to dismiss many workplace relations laws, including the National Employment Standards, as offerings only to full and part time employees. Fortunately, many of these standards carry through to all employees regardless of their employment status [2]. Specifically, casual employees are granted:
Paid family and domestic leave
Unpaid carers, community and compassionate leave
Request powers to convert from casual to full-time status (more on this below!)
Though the conditions seem somewhat restrictive, in combination with the existing protections for casual workers under your respective award [3], the National Employment Standards provide a critical safety net to safeguard your rights no matter what job or employment status you might have.
2. Pathways to Full-time Employment
While many of us may have heard of the ‘right to disconnect’ [4] passed in a recent amendment to the workplace relations legislation providing workers the right to ignore attempted contact from their employer outside of work hours, the bundled up package also included a range of lesser-known but just as vital provisions. Specifically, the creation of a new pathway placing the power on the employee (that’s you!) to change employment status where you have been working the equivalent full time hours with the employer for 12 months [5]. This means leave entitlements, guaranteed working hours and improved consistency all round – if this doesn’t sound good, just imagine how you’ll be able to work AND make your weekly law seminar (does it get any better??).
In all seriousness though, this should be top of mind in case an unforeseen event (like a pandemic, cough cough) reduces the need for your position, thus endangering your hard-earned income stream and leaving you with the limited rights of a casual worker, regardless of the length of time or commitment you have for the role.
3. Payment for Internships
Contrary to what we may think as we trudge our way through internship application after internship application, we usually have a right to fair payment. An employer only holds the right to offer an unpaid internship or work placement where it is part of an approved job training program or vocational placement and the work completed extends only so far as the relevant program requires [6]. Additionally, an unpaid intern position may be offered by a not-for-profit organisation, provided it meets the above criteria.
So, while you cannot expect payment for anything under the ANIP or similar university-provided courses, you should definitely be taking a second look at those advertisements on seek and indeed to make sure you receive what you’re entitled to.
4. Your boss cannot cancel your visa
While the use of threats commonly result in international students being unfairly exploited, the Fair Work Ombudsman highlights it is only the Department of Home Affairs who have the right to cancel, suspend or modify visa conditions [7].
Moreover, a recent deal made with the FWO means international students can report threats and working conditions where a breach of workplace rules has occurred, even where they too have breached their visa conditions without any repercussions on their right to work, live and study in Australia [8].
5. Deductions from your pay cannot take place without informed and written permission
Whether you accidentally break a plate when running tables or find a discrepancy between your end of day earnings and money in the till, your manager is unable to deduct any funds from your pay unless you have acted with ‘wilful misconduct’ [9]. What this means is you cannot be forced to shoulder the burden for anything and everything that goes wrong at your workplace and must receive your full and total pay entitlements for every shift, provided you’re doing your job to the expected standard.
So next time the bell rings and you rush to carry food to the awaiting table, remember it's not just food you can serve, but justice too.
Resources:
And finally, here are a few cheeky resources to have at your disposal in case you ever find yourself in a situation where you need more than just this article to get you through your workplace issues.
ANUSA Rights in the Workplace Information Page | |
Tools and Resources - Fair Work Ombudsman | |
Casual Employment Information Sheet | |
Pay Calculator |
Endnotes
[1] ‘Fair Work Ombudsman out to smash myths relating to young workers’, Mark Lee, Fair Work Ombudsman, 21 October 2022. https://www.fairwork.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/2017-media-releases/february-2017/20170213-young-worker-myths-release
[2] ‘Casual Employees - Fair Work Ombudsman’, Fair Work Ombudsman.
[3] ‘Awards - Fair Work Ombudsman’, Fair Work Ombudsman.
[4] ‘Closing Loopholes: Additional Fair Work Act changes - Fair Work Ombudsman’, Fair Work Ombudsman.
[5] ‘Becoming a Permanent Employee: Employees Requesting Casual Conversion - Fair Work Ombudsman’, Fair Work Ombudsman. https://www.fairwork.gov.au/starting-employment/types-of-employees/casual-employees/becoming-a-permanent-employee.
[6] ‘Work experience and internships - Fair Work Ombudsman’, Fair Work Ombudsman.
[7] ‘International Students - Fair Work Ombudsman’, Fair Work Ombudsman.
[8] ‘Visa Protections: The Assurance Protocol - Fair Work Ombudsman’, Fair Work Ombudsman.
[9] ‘Deducting Pay - Fair Work Ombudsman’, Fair Work Ombudsman.
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