Hey legends, I’m already fairly sure I can guess what most of you will say but I want a second opinion.
I’ve just ‘started’ a new part-time job at a dog daycare (in Australia, so factor in different laws). I say ‘started’ because they’re not having me register officially until after the two-week trial period. This means no paperwork and payment is cash-in-hand until I’m on the books. I know cash-in-hand is illegal but I’m fine with it because it means I’m not paying tax either.
I just finished my first two-hour trial shift and there’s a couple of minor issues with how the staff handle the animals, but it gets me out of my hospitality job (yay!) and I can avoid doing the same dodgy work as the other staff (they hose misbehaving dogs instead of correcting them so it’s annoying but not major and doesn’t affect me).
After my shift, the owner let me know I’d be paid for this shift at my next shift ‘to make sure I come back’ (illegal). It also lets them pay me for only two hours instead of the legal minimum of three hours. So they’ll add two hours onto my next shift’s pay.
The owner also couldn’t tell me what the award (legally binding papers detailing minimum industry requirements for pay, leave, etc.) but I was able to get that info off another staff member.
They also want us to do unpaid training (optional, so technically legal) which would increase our pay rate by a few dollars. I only just finished the shift so I haven’t yet checked everything’s in accordance with the award. The increased rate would probably be worth not getting one-off training pay.
So basically this position would get me out of hospitality and into working with dogs, which I love and is a rare opportunity. BUT there’s a risk of them screwing me over if they’re already pretty lax with the law and knowledge of their own business. Buttt if they do, I could screw them over back since I know they’re paying people off the books. What do you guys think?