The client
A small business owner who hired a new staff member the way a lot of small businesses do. On trust. They were good mates. So nothing went in writing. No contract. No letter of offer. No record of hours, pay, or what the job actually was.
The situation
The employee worked there for less than three months. After she left, she lodged a back pay claim for more than $10,000.
The challenge
By the time we were engaged, the basic facts had disappeared. Three different start dates. Four different finish dates. And nobody could say with any certainty what her actual role had been. Casual or part time? Nobody knew. What entitlements applied? Nobody could say. When did she start? Depended who you asked. You cannot defend a claim when you cannot prove what the job was.
what we did
We took carriage of the claim through the Fair Work Ombudsman and rebuilt the employment relationship from the evidence that still existed. Rosters. Payments. Messages. Anything that helped establish the shape of the arrangement.
The outcome
Zero sum settlement. The business paid nothing.
What it still cost
Weeks of the owner’s time. Professional fees. And months of sitting with a five figure number hanging over the business. Every bit of it avoidable.
The lesson
A written employment contract would have answered all three questions before anyone had a reason to argue about them:
- The start date
- The type of employment
- The entitlements that applied
A few pages of paper against a $10,000 claim.
why we do this work
Drafting employment contracts is not glamorous. It is the least exciting thing on a business owner’s list. But it is the document that decides whether a dispute takes an afternoon or takes a year. A contract is not there because you do not trust your people. It is there so that when someone leaves, and memories get fuzzy, the facts are already in writing. It protects the employee just as much as the employer.
