WAGE THEFT Aged care WIN

QNMU members working for Churches of Christ aged care had a win against wage theft recently after they were underpaid for working public holidays over the Christmas period.

One of our members contacted QNMU after management said she and her colleagues were not entitled to the public holiday pay rate for working on Christmas Day because the state government had declared Tuesday, 27 December a public holiday instead.

While the State Government had indeed declared Tuesday a public holiday, together with Tuesday 2 January, these were additional public holidays for the state, not substitutes for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, which both fell on a Sunday.

Management also tried to shortchange our member on overtime, saying she wasn’t entitled to be paid the seven extra overtime hours she worked over the festive season because 15 of the 76 ordinary fortnight hours she had worked had been sick leave.

After indicating our intention to take these matters to the Fair Work Commission, management acknowledged their error, issued an apology and promised to rectify the error in the following pay run.

Wage theft resulting from poorly (or disingenuously) interpreted public holiday clauses is not an uncommon complaint among QNMU members, which is why we urge members to read their payslips carefully.

Well done to our savvy member for noticing the discrepancy on her payslip and ensuring she and her colleagues received their proper entitlements.