A GOLD Coast 14-year-old has spoken out about her employer potentially breaking child employment laws in a big to strongarm underage employees into accepting a pay cut or face losing work.

Brisbane-based Domino’s has confirmed as of 7 December, all in-store and supervisor casual employees will be “offered” permanent part-time roles instead — but it’s an offer they can’t refuse.

COUNCIL CANCELS ZELDA’S CHRISTMAS

Staff were informed two weeks ago of the new national policy, but many were told they had to sign the new contracts and accept a $2.37 pay cut from $11.86 to $9.49 an hour, or they would simply not be given any more shifts.

A 14-year-old Gold Coast girl has spoken out about her employer, Domino's, potentially breaking child employment laws -... Posted by Gold Coast Bulletin on Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Gold Coast high school student Lucy*, 14, said she and about 15 other casuals were called into the meeting at the Runaway Bay store, where the store manager and regional manager were both present.

FROZEN CURLEWS CAUSING CONFUSION

“They read this contract out at the meeting and they said even though it was really technical they had to say it word for word,” she said.

“They read out what’s going to be happening, that we’re getting a $2 pay drop, and going to become part-time employees, that we get 10 hours sick leave a year and [some] annual leave.

“They gave us something to take home to sign, and they also said, if we don’t sign it they can’t fire us but we won’t get any more shifts.”

She said both the store manager and the regional manager repeated the line. “We said, what if we don’t sign? They said, we won’t put you on — we’ll just hire more people and put them on. We said, what if none of us sign it? And they said they would just hire new people.”

In a statement, a Domino’s spokeswoman said: “This is contrary to what was instructed to our corporate store managers. We are happy to receive more information so we can address this with the store and management in question.”

She further clarified that staff at the Runaway Bay store “were instructed to think about the conversion for no less than 24 hours and if wishing to convert could they please return the contracts by Saturday 28 November”.

media_camera Staff were told to sign the contracts or they wouldn’t be given any more work.

Lucy, who works at the store with her 16-year-old sister Ruby, said all the staff were given was a single page ‘offer of employment’ letter stating the role, employment type and commencement date.

Under ‘terms of employment’, the letter says to consult the SDA — Domino’s Pizza Agreement 2005 or 2009, or to contact head office for “more detailed information regarding the terms and conditions of your employment”.

“The contract didn’t say what was happening, it just said we’re changing to part time,” Lucy said. “They didn’t give us the piece of paper that said the pay rates. If I didn’t tell my parents what they told us at the meeting, they wouldn’t have known what was going on.

“They just said to sign it and bring it back.”

In a statement to News Corp, a Domino’s spokesman confirmed the change, starting with all corporate stores, and said the move was about offering the current workforce secure employment, certainty, training and upskilling employees for the future.

“We are commencing the new strategy with our instore and shift runners,” he said.

“We are in a period of solid growth at Domino’s and we want to invest in our workers, and train and retain them for as long as we possibly can — we see this as a really positive move.

“Casual employees have no guarantee of hours or ongoing employment. Instead, casuals are retained on an ‘as needs’ basis. The new employment strategy will help us retain staff and their knowledge in a period of skill shortages and would also attract new staff to Domino’s looking for job certainty.

“Offering job security and opportunity is a large part of the Domino’s culture and really does cement our People Powered Pizza ethos and that our people are the heart of this business.”

He said other benefits to employees include added entitlements such as annual leave, personal leave, leave loading, redundancy and notice of termination.

media_camera A fact sheet sent to staff on Wednesday.

media_camera High school staff are upset their pay is being cut by more than $2.

media_camera The SDA is concerned young employees are being “compelled” to convert.

Lucy said everyone at the meeting was “really angry”. “I’m 14, most of the others are 15 or 16. We don’t go on annual leave because we all go to school, so we still get paid less,” she said.

Lucy and Ruby’s father, John, is furious. When his daughters first got the job, he went in to sign their casual contracts as their guardian. “I just can’t believe a 14-year-old kid was asked to sign a contract without parental consent,” he said.

Under the enterprise agreement struck between the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) and Domino’s Pizza in 2009, casual employees can work minimum two-hour shifts up to a maximum of 38 hours a week.

Part-time employees are required to work at least nine hours a week in minimum three-hour shifts. “They’re just school students, my youngest daughter it’s her first ever job,” John said.

“I do find it strange, and I want to know why a school kid would go permanent part-time. Young students just want the money, they’re not worried about annual leave and everything,” he said.

“They’ve got to have a life, they can’t commit to nine hours every week. They’re telling them they had to be available every weekend for three-hour shifts, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night.”

In a fact sheet sent out to staff this morning addressing employees’ concerns about the changes, Domino’s was unclear whether staff will be allowed to remain as casual employees.

Under the question “What if I don’t want to convert to permanent part-time?”, the letter states: “If you do not wish to be employed as a permanent part time employee please request a meeting with your manager.”

Giri Sivaraman, principal with law firm Maurice Blackburn, said it was concerning to see the continued trend in franchises and fast-food in particular where “employees who are vulnerable and can be more easily exploited being told they have no choice but to accept new employment conditions”.

“We’ve seen this in Pizza Hut, we’ve seen this in 7-Eleven, now we’re seeing Domino’s where 14-year-olds are being brought into a room and told, ‘You have to sign this contract’,” he said. “It’s really of concern.”

Mr Sivaraman described the behaviour was “highly inappropriate considering their age”, and potentially unlawful in Queensland, where children under the age of 18 are subject to the Child Employment Act 2006.

“It says that an employer should not require a school-age child to perform work without a parental consent form,” he said. “What that also implies, and what you generally expect in the common law, is if it’s a child then clearly any contractual change should have been brought to the attention of their parents first.

“They should not have been dragged into a room and not given the opportunity of taking the contracts home with their parents, and they shouldn’t have been told, ‘You have to sign this or you don’t have work.’”

media_camera Maurice Blackburn principal Giri Sivaraman says the conduct is “highly inappropriate”.

Mr Sivaraman said even senior executives might need advice on a new employment contract. “I advise senior execs on their contracts all the time, [so] a child of 14 or 16 clearly needs to take that contract home to her mother or father for advice.”

The combination of a young, vulnerable workforce, sometimes from overseas or on student visas, geographically spread out across a large number of small workplaces, with franchisees often under “onerous” conditions, created a “vicious cocktail that can lead to the breaking of labour standards and labour laws”, he added.

However, the Domino’s spokesman said the new arrangements were a step in the right direction in empowering youth with more employment benefits.

“In a period of employment uncertainty ripe in the current landscape with sham contracts and other corner cutting tactics, the quick service restaurant (QSR) industry has been working to move in the right space and embrace what the right thing to do by our employees is,” he said.

“At the end of the day it’s all about offering more stability and more opportunities for youth employment in the QSR space, especially in an environment where generally workforces are becoming more ‘casualised’.”

Gerard Dwyer, national secretary of the SDA, said the union had been contacted by a law firm representing two Domino’s employees, and had offered to take the matter up on their behalf. “We have recently raised concerns with Domino’s about conversions from casual to part-time,” he said.

“It’s been put to me that two junior individuals were asked and required to convert.

“In the broad, we all know there are a lot of advantages that go with part-time employment, but our concern is to make sure that anyone who takes up part-time employment [does so through] a genuine and mutually agreed process.”

Mr Dwyer said he was “concerned young employees may have been compelled to alter their status” without proper consideration. “Individual circumstances need to be taken into account,” he said.

“Someone might jump at guaranteed minimum hours, where for someone else it might be something they don’t want.”

He added that if employees were being informed they must be available to work on weekends, the SDA would take that up with Domino’s. “We deal with rostering all the time, and it’s something where you have to arrive at a point where both parties are satisfied,” he said.

“There is no position that says you must work Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”

The SDA says it will pursue the matter through the normal industrial disputes procedure, leaving the door open to Fair Work Commission proceedings failing a resolution with Domino’s.

A spokesman for the Fair Work Ombudsman said it not received any complaints in relation to the new contracts. “Any worker, or parent of a young worker, seeking advice or assistance can contact the Fair Work Ombudsman via the website or the Fair Work Infoline,” he said.

*Last name withheld.

frank.chung@news.com.au

Originally published as Domino’s faces child work scandal