Take day off work sick - you owe $200 to employer - Australia

I was just watching the 7:30 Report on the Australian Broadcasting Commission(ABC - Ch 2) and what I saw was disgusting.

Under the system called, 'Australian Workplace Agreement(AWA) enforce by the Hunter Valley Mining Company, should you become unable to attend work, you must give (1 or 2 days) notice. If you do not notify, then the employee will lose a days wage plus have to pay the company $200 out of the employees wages. Only for emergencies is the employee exempt and getting sick is NOT a reasonable excuse.

All employees of this mine were told to sign the agreement or lose their jobs. They showed a young woman who refused to sign the AWA and is now unemployed.

This is legal under Australia's new so called forward thinking Industrial Relations Laws.

Australian Soldiers should not be in Iraq...they should be here in Australia killing the real enemy to all Australian's.

My 2 days sick the other week my employer didnt pay me.. it doesnt even say in the contract that he would or wouldnt.


It f***ing stupid... and its getting worse this employment law!!!

But do you get fined by the company for getting sick?

This companies AWA fines an employee who can't forsee that they will get sick in the next few days.

I am sure if the boss got sick, he would be paid.

Ok, lets face it, we all get sick one time or another. If you don't want to lose $200, come to work sick. In the process, make everyone else sick and the company will lose even more money. You'll be the boss' best friend and may bring about some good old fashioned reform. Or if the boss sends you home, you came into work so you don't have to pay the $200. So many loopholes, so many stupid laws. This world is unbelieveable

thats inhumane

tut tut tut what is the world coming to. one of these days everyone in australia wont even be able to go to work coz they will all be fired and everyone is gonna be living in cardboard boxes. then when the government least expect it, everyone is gonna turn against them and kill mr stupid john howard and all those other bums in parliment!!! yey! party!! ...... if only that actually happened ....

With my new job we have unlimited sick leave. i mean it is monitored but just say i break my leg at work and i need a month or two off i get paid for it, none of this 8 days a year s***. love it

Stay there!

no doubt mate staying for good

In some respect not getting paid is like a fine.. but i see what you mean.. if you where off for a week you could own 1000 $ whats the average wage?? say little more?? basicly you could get into a lot of finacial trouble just for having a d***y tummy or the flu!

f***ing stupid IMO..

The working world has changed these past few years.. to get a job these days is like audicianing for X factor.. im lucky that most of my jobs my back ground and abilty to talk s*** gets me a job... oh i remeber working in a supermarket, i turned up for work an hour early cause of transport every day.. but on day i was 5 mins late and was docked an hour, i said to the boss "ive been here an hour early for the past 6 months" he ignored the statement. And i had no leg to stand on.....

Employers have got a little too on the ball with sick etc.. what next a clause in the contract where you can breathe or talk unless its your break??

I forgot to mention that they interviewed a bloke from the Employers(or employees) Advocate who said that it is illegal to coerce a person into signing an AWA however, it can only be challenged in a court.

These court cases...which he did not say...costs a minimum of $20,000 just to get looked at. Only Big Business will able to afford these expenses. You have to employ a Queens Counsellor for these courts(High Court)...lawyers for rich people.

Australian's are told over and over that we are taking too many sickies...the King of Sickies....in reality, this is not true as every research taken, shows that about two thirds work in a sickly state due to the fear of not being able to pay the bills and/or lose their employment.

well those are the new industial relations laws for you,. You know as i watch i see that the democratic nations of the world are looking more and more like fascist dictatorsips, in australia any public event or protest can be seen as a terrorist act , police can enter your home and search for evidence that you are involved with terrorist organisations with no warrant. and now the industrial relations act, our bosses can fire us for pretty much anthing they want, hell they don't even need a reason any more, and if you want to challenge it you could end up paying up to $100,000 in legal fees for a decision that may not even get overturned.

people are just too greedy these days. Simple as that

I've said before and I'll say it again....Australia is NOT a fascist state. Fascists do not hurt their own economy and own people like these pigs are doing.