Identification of an Entitlement in the Workplace Instrument

This article discusses the identification and description of an entitlement in the workplace instrument, with a focus on Woolworths. It also compares the entitlement with relevant national employment standards and another instrument for another workplace.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Business Communication
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
a) Background: Identification of an Entitlement in the Workplace Instrument..............................2
1. Selection of the workplace and the Discussion of Workplace Issues with Individual Employee
.........................................................................................................................................................2
2. Identification and Description of Industrial Instrument that Applies to Employees at
Woolworths......................................................................................................................................2
3. Description of Overtime..............................................................................................................3
b) Comparison with the Other Instruments.....................................................................................4
1. Comparison of the Entitlement with Relevant National Employment Standard in Fair Work
Act 2009...........................................................................................................................................4
2. Comparison of Entitlement in your Instrument with Similar Entitlement that Applies in
Another instrument for Another Workplace....................................................................................4
c) Application of Entitlement in the workplace and Views of Employees......................................5
1. How Nominated Entitlement Applies to the Selected Workplace...............................................5
2. Views of the Employees on the Application of the Entitlements................................................6
d) Media Report of Recent Dispute Concerning the Entitlement....................................................7

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a) Background: Identification of an Entitlement in the Workplace Instrument
1. Selection of the workplace and the Discussion of Workplace Issues with Individual
Employee
The workplace selected here is Woolworths (woolworths.com.au 2019). It is one of the
largest supermarket chains of Australia established in the year 1924 and owned by Woolworths
Limited. There are various workplace issues with the individual employees at the workplace.
The company encourages a free overtime culture where the workers are bullied and made to
work beyond the required hours for which they are not even paid (Hatch 2019). Employees
however stay due to the reliability of the job. There is also no communication between the staff
and the management and a lot of bullying from the management. Besides, the managers do not
take responsibility for the wrong doings. Further, according to individual employee review a
typical day at the company is filled with negative vibes and the companies have unfair
management strategies.
2. Identification and Description of Industrial Instrument that Applies to Employees at
Woolworths
Workplace Policies and Standards: Woolworths aspires in becoming one of the best
destinations for working as well as shopping (woolworths.com.au 2019). The retailer has policies
and standards for ensuring that the right actions are taken by the team, customers and the
communities. The retailer primarily covers the matters related to the safety and the work health,

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bullying, harassment, personal appearance, discriminations, inclusion, diversity, workplace
behaviour, leave and benefits.
Wages, Superannuation and Allowances: Team members would be paid the base rate for
the working hours. Certain team members have the eligibility of temporarily receiving the
transition rates (sda.com.au 2019). On the other hand reimbursements and allowances are the
additional payments of the team members for the specific purposes.
Work Hours, Penalty and Overtime Rates: The ordinary work hours for the team members
includes Monday through Friday 7.00 am to 11.00 pm, Saturday 7.00 am to 11.00 pm and
Sunday 9.00 am to 11.00 pm. There are also penalty rates for the full time and part time team
members. According to the clauses put forward by the retailer, the employees are also paid
overtime rates.
Annual Leave and Parental: The leaves are approved through mutual agreement between
the retailer and team members.
3. Description of Overtime
If an employer work for more than the specified hours in the week then the additional hours
are known as overtime (Conway and Sturges 2014). Payment for the additional hours worked as
overtime is usually paid at higher rate in comparison to the regular hours. Overtime pay for the
hourly employees refers to additional pay rate that is paid for the working more than the specific
number of the week.

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b) Comparison with the Other Instruments
1. Comparison of the Entitlement with Relevant National Employment Standard in Fair
Work Act 2009
The National Employment Standards (NES) refers to the minimum entitlement of the
workers in the Australian subcontinent under Fair Work Act 2009 that came into effect from the
1st of January, 2010(Pocock, Charlesworth and Chapman 2013). The NES constituted the safety
net for the industrial relations. According to the National Employment Standards (NES) in the
Fair Work Act 2009, the maximum weekly of work is close to 38 hour in a week along with the
reasonable additional hours. Some employees can ask for a change in the working arrangement
by requesting flexibility in the working arrangements.
2. Comparison of Entitlement in your Instrument with Similar Entitlement that Applies in
Another instrument for Another Workplace.
Amazon is considered the largest company that dominates American landscape during
last few years (amazon.co.uk 2019). The company is doing every possible thing for smothering
the allegations of the abuses at the warehouse. Journalist and investigators have brought to light
the crazy rules that break the employees. Between the back breaking work, streneuos and the
impossible standards set, the employees are not allowed to take a break. These rules are not
only depressing but also surprising and there have been newer cases of employee exploitation
that are revealed on a day to day basis.

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c) Application of Entitlement in the workplace and Views of Employees
1. How Nominated Entitlement Applies to the Selected Workplace
The reasonable overtime in Woolworths is marked by the following (Farbenblum and Berg,
2017):
a. Woolworths can ask team members in working overtime at the overtime rates
according to this particular clause.
b. Team members can however refuse in working overtime where it would seem
unreasonable in regard to the:
 Health and safety of the team member
 Personal circumstances of the team member including the responsibilities of the
family
 The requirement of the workplace
 Amount of the notice given by the Woolworths in relation to the overtime work
and notice given by team members of the intention of refusing overtime.
 Other related issues
Woolworth’s pays overtime of the full time and the part time team members. Both the full
time and the part time members receive the overtime rates for the adding work hours beyond
rostering principles (sda.com.au 2019). For the casual workers Woolworth pays overtime as per
the following norms:

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i. In excess of the 38 working hours every week or the member works according to the roster
and the excess of the 38 working hours every week that is averaged over course of roster cycle.
ii. In excess of the 9 hours in a particular day only when the day represents the 11 hour day
of the week.
iii. Beyond the hours of work mentioned in the various clauses
Woolworth also offers an overtime meal allowance where the team member works for more
than an hour of the overtime after the ordinary line of finish without a 24 hour notice is provided
a meal allowance of close to $18.29(sdansw.org.au 2019). Woolworths also puts forward the
option of time off in the lieu of the overtime (TOIL) where team member could go into an
agreement with the retailer in taking the time off in the lieu of the payment of overtime.
2. Views of the Employees on the Application of the Entitlements
Employee X: He said that a day of work at Woolworths consisted of the slicing of the deli
meats, putting the stock away and serving the customers in setting up the display cabinet that
sometimes forced him in working overtime. This has helped him in learning the safety
procedures and the occupational health and the ways of working within the team environment.
The management team has been approachable and friendly and he had a great experience in
working with other employees from the different ethnic cultures. He also mentioned that closing
the deli have been one of the hardest part of job. The most enjoyable part remained in serving the
customers and ensuring their satisfaction with his customer service skills.

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Employee Y: According to him, he enjoyed working overtime for the new store. He
mentioned that the payment as well as the overtime has been good. The bad thing for him has
been that he would never receive a permanent position and he did not enjoy the benefits of
holiday, sick pay or the annual leave.
Employee Z: He mentioned that being a part of the fast paced retail encouraged him to work
overtime. This helped him in learning to change the direction at a shorter notice due to the
changing of the priorities. He also mentioned that Woolworth had a work culture that provided
ample facilities to the employees like gymnasium and tennis court. According to him, the hardest
part of job had been the extended hours at the work and the after hour call within the
organization.
d) Media Report of Recent Dispute Concerning the Entitlement
Media reports on the Amazon Warehouse revealed that the warehouse forced the workers
to pee in the bottles and forego the bathroom breaks for the fulfillment of higher demand as per
the James Bloodworth, the journalist who went into undercover (Liao 2019). This has led to the
exponential increase in the target that not only stressed and pressurized in meeting the newer
goals. It has been found that the workers who pick up the products for the delivery at the
Warehouse made use of the bottles rather than actual toilet. The employees are always afraid of
losing the jobs. Thus, it can be said that Amazon does not allow the employees with enough
breaks, sick leaves and even includes the pregnant ones. The worker described the break for a
short period of 30 minutes that has mostly been unpaid. There are however two 15 minute paid
according to the labor laws. In spite of having the legal compliance in the break times, workers

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noticed they needed to travel a distance for reaching break area thereby diminishing the time left
for resting(12).
In comparison to this, employee overtime has not been of such an inhuman nature in
Woolworths. Here, workers had the option of choosing between the full time and the part time
employees. They are also paid for their overtime works based on the additional number of hours
worked. The employees were paid an additional meal allowance.

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References:
amazon.co.uk 2019. [online] Available at:https://www.amazon.co.uk/ Accessed 16 Apr 2019].
Conway, N. and Sturges, J., 2014. Investigating unpaid overtime working among the part‐time
workforce. British Journal of Management, 25(4), pp.755-771.
Farbenblum, B. and Berg, L., 2017. Migrant workers’ access to remedy for exploitation in
Australia: the role of the national Fair Work Ombudsman. Australian Journal of Human
Rights, 23(3), pp.310-331.
Hatch. P. 2019. [online] Workplace tribunal waves through new Woolworths wage deal.
Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/workplace-tribunal-waves-through-
new-woolworths-wage-deal-20190107-p50q1y.html[Accessed 16 Apr 2019].
Liao, S. 2019. [online] Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17243026/amazon-
warehouse-jobs-worker-conditions-bathroom-breaks[Accessed 16 Apr 2019].
Pocock, B., Charlesworth, S. and Chapman, J., 2013. Work-family and work-life pressures in
Australia: advancing gender equality in “good times”?. International Journal of Sociology and
Social Policy, 33(9/10), pp.594-612.
sda.com.au 2019. [online] Available at: https://www.sda.com.au/woolworths/ [Accessed 16 Apr
2019].
sda.com.au2019. [online] Available at:https://www.sda.com.au/media/Woolworths-
Supermarkets-Agreement-2018-Final-02.10.2018.pdf. [Accessed 16 Apr 2019].

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sdansw.org.au2019. [online] Available at: https://www.sdansw.org.au/system/files/Woolworths
%20National%20Supermarket%20Agreement%202012%20-%20NSW%20%20ACT%20-
%20Print%20Versio....pdf [Accessed 16 Apr 2019].
woolworths.com.au 2019. [online] Available at: https://www.woolworths.com.au/Shop/New
[Accessed 16 Apr. 2019].
woolworths.com.au2019.[online]Available at:
https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/icms_docs/183764_Code_of_Conduct[Accessed 16 Apr
2019].