VIC Company refusing to pay OT

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NanNan

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8 April 2020
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Just after some advice on my legal rights with this one and how I can escalate this if required. I worked a lot of OT at the request of management last year, 5+ hours every weekday plus all weekend. For about 3 months this was all paid correctly at OT rates. I continued this for another 3 months, was told to put in my sheets for approval etc. and then they stopped paying saying "we'll pay next month", "it's end of financial year"... all sorts of excuses. I stopped doing OT after that.
I'm still trying to get the money owed to me as it's a significant amount and now getting push back from new management as a lot of the requests and conversations were verbal so it's hard to provide proof it was approved. The fact that all previous OT was paid doesn't seem to count as proof that there was an ongoing OT requirement.
Is there anything I can do to get this money paid to me? Do I have any legal recourse to ask for this money. They have offered TIL instead, but that was not agreed ahead of time and honestly it's so many hours that I literally would never be able to take it all unless I stopped work for 3 months.
 

Rod

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27 May 2014
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Is there anything I can do to get this money paid to me? Do I have any legal recourse to ask for this money. They have offered TIL instead, but that was not agreed ahead of time and honestly it's so many hours that I literally would never be able to take it all unless I stopped work for 3 months.

Yes, see a lawyer.

You do have legal recourse.

Get the TiL offer in writing. It is an acknowledgement you worked overtime. You then also have timesheets as additional evidence.

You have 6 years in which to make a claim so there is unlikely to be any immediate hurry. This situation doesn't change if they sack you. Your claim to OT exists independently of any other claim you may have if they terminate your employment.

New management often means trouble for some employees :(
 

Tim W

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28 April 2014
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I agree with @Rod, overall.
I do differ from him in one point though... Don't delay.

Get on with it, because you don't know, and by the sound of it, can't tell,
whether or not the company is in some sort of commercial trouble.

In my experience, subject to a bunch of ifs, buts, and variables, is
that an offer to give you time in lieu rather than money
is a sign of a business that is, or may soon be, short of cash.

I suspect that it could go south at any moment.
In which case, you'll end up in a queue behind the secured,
and along with any other unsecured, creditors.
I suggest that you take Rod's advice, but sooner rather than later.
 
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