NSW Employment Law - Part-time Wages with Full Time Workload - Claim Backpay?

[JoanD]

Hello,

I have been employed part time (2.5 days per week) in the same role for the past seven years, aside from a few secondments lasting a total of approximately 12 months. The part time employment contract for this particular role existed before I was employed; I was happy with the arrangement because the amount of hours suited me (and still does). However, the workload always felt too great for the hours of the role. I mentioned this to each manager I've had - six in total - as infrequently as monthly and, in particularly difficult periods, as often as daily.

Nothing ever changed to improve my workload and so I concluded that it must be proportional to my colleagues and that the problem was with me.

A couple of months ago I decided to spend my nights after work and my days off reviewing this.

My conclusion (after an 83 page report with a 460 page appendices) was that my workload has been that of a full time staff member the entire time I've been employed. To reach this conclusion I used three different formulae to calculate workload:
1: using the employer's definition
2: my workload in comparison with full time colleagues
3: the growth of my workload in comparison with the employer's growth in business

All the data required to make these comparisons is freely available to anyone in the organisation, meaning my managers - and theirs - have easy access to the information.

I have submitted my report and appendices to my employer with a few questions I'd like answered and two requests/demands. The request/demand I'd like to ask for your opinion on is:

1: Financial reimbursement

• I request that my wages be topped up to that of a full time employee from 28th April, 2008 until 8th May, 2015 (when my workload was somewhat brought down); and
  
  
• both my superannuation and leave entitlements adjusted in the same manner as my wages

Do you think there's any legal standing under Employment Law for me to expect this may happen? Particularly, as mentioned, anyone in the organisation could access this data and therefore, based on my frequent feedback, management should have been doing exactly that and rectifying the situation.

Thanks for your time and input!

 

[allie]

I don't expect that you will have much luck.
Essentially an employment contract is a contract - you signed a contract to perform particular work, for a particular rate of remuneration. If your position description had markedly changed during your employment, you may have more of an argument - eg, if you had been required to take on more responsibility, work more hours, etc. But if the actual role has remained pretty much the same, what you are really doing is saying you should be paid more for what you do. In a nutshell. And ultimately, you're not really owed any more than your contract stipulates.