NSW Employment Law - Saturday Pay Goes to VLA?

[Mummy]

I am employed casually but work full time hours. We are required to work at least 1 Saturday a month.

As I work full time hours, they take my Saturday pay and put it into what they call VLA, which is a kind of bank we can use when we want to take leave or we can have time in lieu, instead of the money value.

Is this legal under employment law? And should we not get paid at a higher rate for weekend work?

 

[Lance]

Hi,

That sounds really dodgy. I'm not an expert but you should be entitled to penalty rates for weekend work and you should be paid for any work done. No employer has the right to put your earned money into a bank account for you to access later!

If you work casual full time hours and you work regular hours you may not actually be casual, which means you may be entitled to sick leave / annual leave and various other workers rights. Depending on the size and type of company will depend if your rights are covered under the fair work commission (National) or the NSW Industrial Relations (which is obviously state).

You should contact the Industrial relations in the first instance and tell them what's happening and just get there view of what should be happening. The contact details are below:
NSW Industrial Relations: www.industrialrelations.nsw.gov.au 13 16 28

Fair Work Ombudsman: www.fairwork.gov.au 13 13 94