Working without a contract

[sedky]

A friend of mine recently started a new job with an American company, based in Australia. She has been working for them for a month and is expected to undertake several weeks of international travel in the coming months, but is yet to receive a contract or be paid.

What are the repercussions for her or for the company if she does not have a contract? Should she refuse to travel without one?

[aba]

Hi sedky!

I think this is unusual. Perhaps, you can tell your friend to inquire in their HR department about his/her situation. Maybe HR doesn’t know about this. However, if HR is the one committed the lapses / fault for the delay of the employment contract, your friend can probably ask the assistance of his/her department head or unit head to talk to HR to fast track his/her employment contract. It would be best for your friend to travel after completing all his documents.

[sedky]

Hi aba,

She has spoken to the HR department, who say that they are waiting on her boss and when she rings her boss, he says that it's HIS boss who is holding it up, and so on and so on.

I agree that it is unusual, and worrying too, if that is the way that HR is run. I have never worked for or with an American company before though, so perhaps it is a cultural difference?

What should I tell her - to travel, or plant her feet in the ground and wait for the contract to come through?

[aba]

Hi sedky!

OK I see. So, given the scenario, still HR is the one responsible in getting the employment contract done. HR should handle the scenario well.

Your query regarding whether your friend shall accept the travel or not will depend on how your friend loves her work and if it is worth keeping. Maybe you can give her the following options:

1. If your friend really needs and loves her work,
• She can consider accepting the travel and just enjoy the trip.
• And / Or maybe she can still professionally talk again to her boss and inform her boss that she loves her work but she would prefer to travel after accomplishing the employment contract – First things first. I hope her boss is kind enough not to be annoyed.
2. If your friend doesn’t really need a job that bad, maybe she can start looking for another job.

Still, the decision is in your friend’s close assessment of her situation. I hope this can help your friend.

[sedky]

Thanks again Aba. She loves this job (it took her almost a year to get it, I think). The big question that she asked me is whether there would be insurance problems - what happens if something happens overseas? Is she covered by the company (an insurance company, funnily enough) or not?

[HRbeat]

I recommend that your friend discuss all her concerns with her employer. If she really loves the job and happy to wait a bit for her employment contract to be finalised, she should at least make sure that all her concerns regarding the overseas travel are addressed for her by the employer (e.g. insurance coverage, airfares, accommodation, travel allowance, etc.).

It is very unusual not to be paid after a month of working with a company. It makes me wonder what terms and conditions she agreed to when the position was offered to her. Any verbal agreement that has taken place is legally binding if she already commenced work on the basis of those terms (Australian legislation). Global companies operating in Australia still has to comply to Australian employment law.

Perhaps she can forward a summary of the terms and conditions she agreed to when she accepted the role, accompanied by a request that she would appreciate it being formalised through a written employment contract.

[aba]

Hi sedky and HRbeat!

I agree to HRbeat. Your friend has to talk again to her employer or HR. All of your friend's questions boils down to communication issue. In addition to HRbeat's recommendation, she could also inquire whether she has a health or hospitalization coverage that she could use overseas.

[sedky]

OK, thank you both for your advice. I'll let you know if it all goes sour, but I'm sure she will sort it out.

If you don't hear from me, you can consider that no news is good news. Thanks again.

[Moz]

Any verbal agreement that has taken place is legally binding if she already commenced work on the basis of those terms (Australian legislation).

I thought employment contract fell under State law? which certainly differed from one jurisdiction to the next.

sedky, personally I would see not being paid as a real worry.

Is the employer a well known, reputable organisation?

If your friend does decide to travel she should ask for a copy of the travel insurance policy under which she is covered, and she should check it to make sure the cover is adequate.

She also needs to know what expenses the company will be paying while she is away, i.e Taxis, hotels, meals, phone calls.

Is your friend expected to pay her expenses while travelling and claim them back from the company?

Because if they're not even paying her salary when they should I don't rate her chances of getting reimbursed any time soon!

I think your friend should be making copies of every bit of correspondence she has with the company regarding her employment conditions and this trip. Either in paper format kept safely at home or forwarded to a personal email account on something like gmail.

[HRbeat]

Hi Moz,

Thanks for pointing that out. Constitutional corporations are covered under the Federal employment legislation Fair Work Act. In South Australia, powers have been referred to Federal with regards to the private sector. The public sector is still very much under State legislation.

[Moz]

I'm not sure what the situation is now across all of our States - can't keep up with all the changes we've had in recent years!

[HRbeat]

I know!!! Federal employment law have been revamped (significant changes) twice in the last 4 years. This created a ripple effect on HR functions in terms of policy and procedure review, employment contracts, etc.

[Moz]

Oh to be a lawyer specialising in employment law!

The FWA and NES must be like manna from heaven.

The scary thing is, we won't know the real meaning of the new laws until they have been tested in court, because most of them are open to interpretation.