JobWatch was featured in the Herald Sun and other major metropolitan newspapers on 23 February 2023, commenting on unpaid overtime.
February 23, 2023
JobWatch executive director Zana Bytheway agrees that most companies do not force staff to work unduly long hours and says, if they were, the not-for-profit employment legal service would be receiving far more calls from aggrieved workers.
“When you are all physically in the office, everyone walks out the door at the same time but … sometimes you lose track of time if you are out of the office area (and working from home), and there’s no trigger as to when you should stop,’’ Bytheway says.
She says workers are only legally entitled to paid overtime if they are directed by their boss to work extra hours, their annualised salary does not include provisions for overtime or the extra hours worked reduce their salary below the minimum wage, as set out in the relevant award or enterprise agreement.
Bosses are not required to pay overtime if workers undertake extra hours of their own accord, Bytheway says.
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