Pay and awards
Catherine has started a new business. She has checked www.fairwork.gov.au and discovered that her business isn't covered by an award or agreement.
If Catherine decides to hire an employee, is there a minimum pay rate that she will need to pay them?
Yes
Bob hired Alan 10 months ago as a full-time employee. Alan put in a request for 2 weeks annual leave. Bob refuses the request because Alan has not worked for the business for a full year.
Bob tells Alan he has to work for the business for at least 12 months before he can take annual leave. Is this right?
No — employees get 4 weeks of leave per year, accumulated progressively throughout the year. They can access any part of the leave that they have accumulated.
Daphne needs to hire a receptionist to work 25 hours per week in a medical centre. The receptionist will work the same shifts each week.
What sort of employee should Daphne consider hiring?
A part-time employee.
Mark is a full-time employee. Mark tells his boss Dani that he needs to take leave for the next 2 days to care for his sick child. It's a very busy time for the business so this really annoys Dani.
When Mark returns to work, Dani advises him that she has made him part-time. She tells Mark this will assist him to manage his caring responsibilities.
Is this okay?
No
How many rings are on the Olympic flag?
5
Andrew operates a garage and employs 2 mechanics. He heard a story on the radio that the national minimum wage and award wages had increased.
When Andrew engaged his employees, they agreed to work for a particular rate, which at the time was above the minimum award rate. Andrew made it clear to them at the time that he couldn't afford to pay anything higher.
Now their minimum award rate is higher than what Andrew is paying them.
What should Andrew do?
Pay the new minimum rate from the date it became effective (making back-payments if necessary).
Alice has worked for her employer full-time for 1 year and has taken 1 week of annual leave. Her employer has told her that she has to use the rest of her annual leave before the end of the year, otherwise she will lose it.
Is Alice's employer correct?
No – annual leave accumulates indefinitely.
Harry's business has just been offered work on a 6 month project. He'll need to hire some new full-time employees for the project, but won't have any more work for them once the project has ended.
Can he hire full-time employees for a 6 month period only?
Yes – he can hire full-time employees on fixed term contracts.
Dave is hiring electricians. Warren is the most suitable applicant but Dave turns him down because he's over 55 years old and he's worried that Warren might want to retire after a couple of years.
Is Dave's decision okay and why?
No because it is discrimination.
Who directed Jurassic Park?
Steven Spielberg
Luke is the owner of a security business. The business has a registered agreement that has been in operation for the past 3 years. Luke has discovered that the base pay rates in the Security Services Industry Award are now higher than the base pay rate under the registered agreement.
Does Luke need to pay the base pay rates under the registered agreement or the base pay rates under the award?
Base pay rate under the registered agreement.
Jeremy took 8 days of sick (personal)/carer's leave in his first year of full-time work.
How many days of sick/carer's leave does Jeremy have at the start of his second year?
2 days – sick/carer's leave carries over.
Joe hires Daniel to work as a labourer. Joe asks Daniel to get an ABN and work for him as an independent contractor so Joe doesn't have to provide leave entitlements or worry about tax. Whilst Daniel knows he's working in the same manner as Joe's employees, he's happy with this arrangement because Joe is offering a much higher pay rate for the arrangement.
Joe's behaviour is:
Not okay — Joe is misrepresenting Daniel's employment status.
Sarah is legally blind and has applied for a customer service job in a florist shop. The owner rejects her application because part of the job includes making deliveries in the company van.
Can the employer do this?
Yes – but only if Sarah can't meet the inherent requirements of the job.
Which continent is the Sahara Desert located on?
Africa
A company hires its employees under an enterprise agreement (a type of registered agreement). The agreement passed its nominal expiry date 3 months ago.
Does the enterprise agreement apply to the employees?
Yes - the company's enterprise agreement still applies to the employees.
James decides in October to temporarily shut down his business over the Christmas-New Year period. His employees are covered by an award.
What might this mean for his full-time and part-time employees? Select 2 of the following:
They can be directed to take any accrued annual leave to cover the period of the temporary shutdown.
James may need to pay them their ordinary wages for the duration of the temporary shutdown even though they are not working.
Frank wants to employ Rob as a part-time bartender to work in his hotel.
Before Rob starts work, what 3 things about the part-time role should he and Frank agree on?
The number of hours to be worked each day.
The days of the week that Rob will work.
The actual starting and finishing times of each shift.
Damien's performance at work has been declining. In response, his supervisor has asked him to attend a meeting with someone from the business's human resources department. Both the supervisor and human resources officer want to talk to Damien about his performance and arrange some extra training for him.
Damien is the only staff member in the business who has been asked to attend such a meeting. Damien says he is being bullied. Is he correct and why?
No, because it is linked to his performance.
In which year did World War II end?
1945
John runs a business.
Which 3 of the following does John need to consider when working out which award applies to each of his employees?
The type of work the employee does.
The coverage clause in the award.
The industry that the business is in.
Sue has used all of her paid sick (personal)/carer's leave. Sue calls her boss Pete to let him know that she needs to take a day off to care for her sick son.
What should Pete say?
Sue can take unpaid carer's leave.
Ryan's concreting business is working at full capacity to meet a contract deadline. In order to meet the deadline, Ryan has asked his full-time employees to work 45 hours per week for the next month.
Which 4 of the following factors would be taken into account in determining whether Ryan's request is reasonable?
Any risk to the employees' health or safety.
The needs of the workplace or enterprise.
Whether the employee is entitled to receive overtime payments, penalty rates or other compensation for working additional hours.
Any notice given by the employer to work the additional hours.
Alice is upset that one of her employees has made a complaint to the Fair Work Ombudsman about their wages, which are less than the award minimum. Alice was paying the employee the rate they agreed to in the employee's contract and thinks this is okay.
What should Alice do?
Find out what the right wage is, start paying this to the employee and back-pay the employee any underpayments from past pay periods.
What is the chemical symbol for gold?
Au