Alternative Offers of Work
On 2 April 2020, many employees received an offer to work for the Helloworld as a call centre representative. For many employees the offer of work will be very welcome, but there are risks when you sign a new contract of employment.
Employees have been asked to sign a statement described as an ‘Acceptance of temporary work opportunity’. This is actually a variation to their contract of employment. This will change your rate of pay and other entitlements!
The ASU has reviewed some of the proposed contracts of employment, and we’ve identified the following problems:
- The contracts don’t specify that your enterprise agreement continues to apply during the temporary work. It is important that you continue to be covered by your enterprise agreement, so that you have the benefit of all the conditions.
- There is no position description for the new role, this means we cannot assess whether the rate of pay is appropriate. You should be provided with a copy of your position description before being asked to sign a new contract.
- The contract is back dated to 30 March 2020. The contract should commence on the day that you start working in the new role.
- The contract provides that you could remain in the new role after 30 April 2020 if the temporary work continues. However, there should be a clear statement that once there is useful work for you to perform in your substantive role, you can return to that work.
The ASU’s advice is DO NOT SIGN ANY CONTRACT until these problems are resolved.
The ASU has written to Helloworld management, asking them to resolve these problems before asking employees to sign the contract variations.
Please pass this bulletin onto your friends and colleagues at helloworld as soon as you can.
Speak to your organiser for more information. (download the full bulletin here).
Helloworld Bulletin - 6 April 2020
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