Hi,
I am a physiotherapist working in NSW. I applied for a position advertised on Seek With a community physiotherapy organisation in late Feb and was offered a position in early March. I was offered a permanent part-time position for 16 hour per week, with a start date of April 27th. I was emailed a formal contract on 6th March detailing the offer which I signed and returned on the same day.
Fast forward several weeks and coronavirus has now changed things in many ways. I emailed the company manager earlier this week to find out if the business was operating any differently because of the pandemic. She rang me today and advised that due to changes in the business as a result of coronavirus, they would still very much like to employ me as per my contract, but it wouldn’t be possible at the moment. She offered me two options: push back my start date by approximately 6 weeks (no start date confirmed; dependent on what happens with covid); or be employed on the original start date but on a casual contract. This would mean zero guaranteed hours, and any work would be paid at a casual rate per physiotherapy patient visit only (as opposed to a fixed $54 per hour rate for all work including travel and admin).
I am wondering whether I have any legal grounds to dispute their actions? Is it considered a breach of contract?
I am now potentially facing 6+ weeks with little or no income as a result of this. I did not resign from another position to commence this job, but I did line the start date up with the contract end date of my current role (which ends on 24th April). And now am staring down the barrel of unemployment with a mortgage, 2 dependents, a husband who has lost his job because of covid, and a very poor job market. 💩
I am a physiotherapist working in NSW. I applied for a position advertised on Seek With a community physiotherapy organisation in late Feb and was offered a position in early March. I was offered a permanent part-time position for 16 hour per week, with a start date of April 27th. I was emailed a formal contract on 6th March detailing the offer which I signed and returned on the same day.
Fast forward several weeks and coronavirus has now changed things in many ways. I emailed the company manager earlier this week to find out if the business was operating any differently because of the pandemic. She rang me today and advised that due to changes in the business as a result of coronavirus, they would still very much like to employ me as per my contract, but it wouldn’t be possible at the moment. She offered me two options: push back my start date by approximately 6 weeks (no start date confirmed; dependent on what happens with covid); or be employed on the original start date but on a casual contract. This would mean zero guaranteed hours, and any work would be paid at a casual rate per physiotherapy patient visit only (as opposed to a fixed $54 per hour rate for all work including travel and admin).
I am wondering whether I have any legal grounds to dispute their actions? Is it considered a breach of contract?
I am now potentially facing 6+ weeks with little or no income as a result of this. I did not resign from another position to commence this job, but I did line the start date up with the contract end date of my current role (which ends on 24th April). And now am staring down the barrel of unemployment with a mortgage, 2 dependents, a husband who has lost his job because of covid, and a very poor job market. 💩
