Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Marisa Bidois: Restaurant Association boss on new Holidays Act changes

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Marisa Bidois: Restaurant Association boss on new Holidays Act changes · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: As expected, the government's overhauling the Holidays Act. Sickly will
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: now be pro ruter matching hours worked instead of flat
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: ten days, and your leave will also occurue based on ours,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: giving workers more flexibility. Marissa Bdoir, the Restaurant Association chief executive,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: is with me now. Good morning, Maroissa, thanks for your.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Time, Good morning, Thanks for having me.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Is this a long time coming for you?
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, it has been a very long time coming. The
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: work's gone on over the last year, but it's been
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: twenty years really since issues with the old system started happening,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: So we're very pleased to see this reform coming through.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: So how does this provide clarity for businesses?
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Well, look, in particular for hospitality businesses, a lot of
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: our businesses don't work on a forty hour week at all.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: We're employing casual employees, we're employing part timers. The new
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: system really takes into account those more different and modern
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: ways of working as well. So it's really getting an
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: overhaul and being adapted to be more user friendly in
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: the modern world, I think is the best way to
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: describe it.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Will it change the way businesses interact with their employees?
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Look, I think as far as that interaction with employees,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: it's going to simplify things for both employers and employees.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: And I think anything in this space when it comes
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: to pay, if it's easier to understand, it's going to
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: be better for everybody.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: In hospo. Do you have a lot of part timers
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  Speaker 1: or do you have a lot of casual workers?
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Yes, we do. We do have a lot of part
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: time workers and casual workers across different parts of the sector.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Also seasonal, you know, we have people coming in to
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: help out with a busy season for example. You know,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: So this is this type of approach will make it
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: much easier for employers. The old system based a lot
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: of its calculations on either weekly for annual leave or
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: daily for sickly. This really simplifies it by making both
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: of those areas provided sort of over an hourly basis.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: So it really does simplify it.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: The unions have sort of taken a look at this one.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: We've all taken a look at and gone, okay, it's
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: quite good for casual workers, but it's a little bit
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: of a potentially could be a step back for part
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: time as if you take a look at sick pay,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: that they will potentially see a reduction of leave entitlement.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Is that a concern for you?
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Look, I think it sort of balances out, to be honest,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: I think it sort of matches the hours that you work.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: If you are a full time employee, you are going
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: to be seeing more sickly than titlements. If you are
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: a part time you know, employee, then yes it is reduced,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: But I think it balances out as far as you're
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: the hours that you're actually working.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Was anything else that you looked at with this overhaul
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: and you thought, right, that is going to be, you know,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: great for the hospitality industry specifically.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Look, I think it really is around that change from
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: weekly and daily to hourly. I know so many employers
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: who agonize over essentially making sure that they're getting these
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: payments correct when it comes to sick pay or holiday pay.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: And I mean, if we're looking at large corporate organizations
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: and even some government departments, we're making mistakes on this.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: You can imagine what a nightmare it has been for
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: small businesses.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: So I worked in hospital when I was at university
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: and things, Marissa, and I don't think I ever got
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: the right holiday pay or sick paid. You know what
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: I was expecting, never.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: Quite any right, you know, so it's always kind of
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: been like and that was quite a long time ago.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: I suppose the other thing you locate here too, is
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: obviously they're hoping to get this legislation through the House
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: before the end of the year, or at.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Least before the end of this term. Then it's another
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: couple of years. You know, we've got to change all
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: the software. It's still a bit of a long hauling heat.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: It's a shame we can't fast take this exactly.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: And that's one of some of the feedback we've been
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: receiving from employers business owners. They're just like, wow, we
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: have to wait this long before we implement this. And yes,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: I understand that, you know, we have systems to update,
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: but a lot of the systems that we've been reviewing
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: are already in some ways ready to go. So yeah,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: it does seem like a long time to wait before
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: the actual implementation happens. But I guess we need time
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: to educate everyone, get your rid up to speed. But yes,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: it'd be great if we could kick it off earlier.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Rissa, thank you so much for your time this morning.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Have a great day. For more fam Earlily Edition with
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Ryan Bridge. Listen live to news talks it Be from
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio