worked for my old employer for some time, knew shit was shady as fuck but recorded my hours in a google spreed sheet like many i know. i would take photos of my closing up because it was needed by my employer to easily check the balances at the end of the day since i closed. i was stupid and thought i could trust my boss, that i had a “good boss” and shit.
so lets paint the picture; there is no sign in sign off system, there were no rosters provided and payslips were done poorly with 1 hour and total wage for the week. he sells the shop and new owners take over, i notice my wage does not match the reported amount to the tax office and ask him about this he states that i was paid cash for some weeks i deny this as none of the payslips i did have showed paid cash and i hate getting paid in cash. i point out that's not true i dont remeber and payslips show otherwise and he blows up even more claiming i was fired and re hired and a whole bunch of other shit.
fair work case started. my log of hours are a digital spreadsheet and not taken as evidence, my phots only show that i was there at the time of photo(their words) and even if they showed finish time they dont show start time. employer was unable to provide a record of my hours and fined for it(their words) but the fine he got is less then what he owes me. fair work also claims that he stated i was only suppose to work 38 hours a week and pay reflects that. i was not told to work more then those hours but that's fucked up since there's nothing showing that's what i was told and i have a photo of him telling me “stay till the job is done” but apparently that only appled for that day. the end of day closing shows me finishing about 15 minutes late on a regular basis with no word about finishing on time.
to finish up,
1, log your stupid hours on their fucking bullshit app that records gps and time stamps. they will accept nothing less, even if the boss who is legaly required to log your hours states “my records are not good enough for you” and submits 0 hours. his word of “only 38 hours a week and nothing more” will be taken over everything you have unless its this app.
2, if your shift finishes at 5pm and you have a customer at 4:45 come in that u wont finish by 5 tell them the job you have wont be finished till tomorrow, no excuses as you are not getting paid past 5. so pack up before 5 and leave on 5 as that's the end of your shift.
3, any over time outside the set hours you are given must be put in writing otherwise they can deny it even if you have proof you worked.
4, if your boss has not paid you on payday, stop showing up till its in your account no excusess.
5, never accept cash as payment for anything because proof you didnt get paid cash is now on you even if the payslip shows it was a bank transfer they don't care.