Was I right?

[fchaudari76]

As most of you know I recently (well its been a month now) started a new job.
I have not signed a contract, was not given any sort of offer letter, was not told what my pay would be, not informed of probationary periods, annual leave, sick leave etc
So pretty much was given no info even though I have asked for it, a number of times.
My paperwork took them 2 weeks to sort out and give me and I have not been paid since I began work, which has been highly inconvenient for me financially
Anyway on Friday I got ticked off and emailed the head office in Brisbane and asked them if all the above was common practice within their company.
I kind of feel bad complaining and going over my Director & contacting head office ... do you think this was the right course of action? It has been a MONTH and I am a bit freaked working with nothing in writing stating I have even been employed.
Has anyone worked anywhere where stuff like this happens?

[Lorina]

Hey Fefe,

Just a simple question... what did you discuss during your job interview? Typically these questions should of been answered during the job interview itself! Personally, I wouldn't start a job unless I know how much I will be paid, annual leave, sick leave etc... fair enough paperwork is late but you don't even know how much you're getting?? That's insane!

If you've asked the director a number of times about this (and I'm pretty sure you have) then I guess you have no option than to contact head office directly. The thing is now that head office has been contacted stating that you're not happy with what is going on, your director will obviously get a talking too about the complaint you made and I don't know how this is going to impact on your work relationship.... I mean this could be a good thing or not but hopefully the claws don't come out on this and nothing gets taken personally.

In my past experience, it sometimes does take a couple of weeks to sort out paperwork but I always had the information before hand. Also, previously I wasn't always offered a contract when I became employed... but it has never taken 1 month to sort out payment!

You had to do what you had to do... it will be interesting to hear the outcome!

Cheers ,
L.A

[fchaudari76]

Every thing i asked in the interview got the answer "head office decides" or "head office will send u that info"
each time ive asked about pay she has said she will find out but never has and i just got sick of it

in previous jobs i have always signed a contract and have been given some kind of employee handbook or info sheet with all the info New employees need to know

since she is saying head office is not giving her info then i decided to approach head office, if she gets pissed off i will just say well i wasnt getting answers from u so i asked them
she is always too busy so fair enough, what did she expect me to do

[catchmeifucan]

Hi fefe, sorry to hear that you are getting the run around.

"I have not signed a contract, was not given any sort of offer letter, was not told what my pay would be, not informed of probationary periods, annual leave, sick leave etc "

Honestly I do not remember signing a contract anywhere before. Maybe only once or twice in the past and I have worked in a lot of childcare centres around nsw. The only thing that I remember signing was an Employee handbook that lists the various responsibilites for the employee working at that centre. But this does not mention anything about the wages I will be receiving but it does mention details about probationary periods, annual leave, sick leave etc. However I always find these out during the interview itself or maybe couple of days later when they confirm that my job application was successful. I noticed that they may not mention about annual leave or sick leave until you ask but I would definetely know what my wages are before hand.

Regarding the probation period, I just assumed that all newly employed staffs are automatically in a 3 months probation period. I thought this was standard since I always had this with all centres I had worked so far. About the sick leave, I think I am getting something like 8 days a year. This gets accumulated and its worked out based on the number of days you worked at that centre. The same with the annual leave as well and I get 4 weeks annual leave a year. I also think this is sorta standard as well.

No matter whether there is a contract to sign or not, I think that you are entitled to know what your wages, probationary periods, annual leave, sick leave etc are. I can maybe understand couple of weeks time to ready the paperworks but anything more than that is really unprofessional. Not getting paid for a month is unacceptable. Did you find out if they pay weekly or fortnighly or monthly? most the time it is weekly or fortnightly. I never had a monthly wages so far..

Like L.A said, you do what you need to do. There is nothing wrong with that..Its the responsibility of the employers to inform their employees on their entitlements and responsibilites.

[fchaudari76]

They pay fortnighty that i know
I know most of probabtionary periods, leave etc are standard but I still would like to know... I mean what if I had never worked in a centre before? how would i know?
I know I have 4 weeks annual leave and they shut 2 weeks over Xmas ... but only because I asked someone.
I just feel they have shirked on their duty to provide me, as a new employee of all the essential information I required
Contract or no contract i still would like something in hand that confirms my employment

[Lorina]

"Every thing i asked in the interview got the answer "head office decides" or "head office will send u that info" each time ive asked about pay she has said she will find out but never has and i just got sick of it"

I remember working in centres like that before. This is a common problem when you work in some centres that has chains of childcare and is managed by a head office. This means, most of the time the directors cant do much and they need to wait for the head office to get back to them. I dont understand that...There is nothing much they can do if the head office isint doing much. I think these directors here are more like "supervisors" really. If I was you, I would be sick of it too...

[fchaudari76]

Well just to update you all on whats happened.
Head Office have now got back to me and have apologised for the inconveniences and have explained everything to me as well as told me i will get paid on wednesday
my director suddenly seemed on the ball today as well after i made sure i let the woman who sits in admin know how displeased i was at all these delays and that i had actually stopped hubby from contacting C&Ks GM about it
anyway hopefully this is all sorted now and i will start getting paid regularly

[catchmeifucan]

talk about a dodgy start...its good you got it sorted. Hopefully things go better for you from here on..Good luck!

[fchaudari76]

Hope so
They have said that I will get paid 2moro so lets see

[teresamc]

I had a similar situation and in fact I feel like I have been duped. In the interview I was told that head office would work out wages and it would be award wage and that there were computers in all the rooms. I didn't get a letter of offer until day 2 when I then found out that I would be earning $3 less per hour than I was in my previous position and they claimed that was still award wage. The computers are 2 ancient machines - one has letter land software and the other has just a paint program - no internet, printers or even Microsoft Office.
My dh is VERY angry about it all as I am staying up till all hours of the night trying to get things done at home. I can use the director's computer and she is very generous about it but it is on the front desk so if I'm there I have to answer the phone and deal with anyone who walks in. So if I get an hour on her computer (if I'm lucky) it really only means 30 minutes of work getting done.
I wish I had dug my heels in and found out EVERYTHING before I started.