By Madeleine Wedesweiler
June 27, 2023
Jamal Banfield estimates he was underpaid at least $10,000 in his job as a disability support worker, working with people with complex disabilities and high needs.
He told SBS News there were warning signs that he might be illegally underpaid and overworked, during his induction in April 2021.
“The (person running the meeting) made an off-the-cuff comment saying that because we were casuals we wouldn’t get paid overtime and we could work as much as we wanted, and I thought that was very strange,” Mr Banfield said.
Within a couple of months Mr Banfield says he was working 50-60 hour weeks – he needed to keep working more and more hours because he wasn’t getting the rate the award said he was owed.
“At one point, I ended up doing a 24-hour shifts and triple and double shifts. And I was like, ‘surely there’s something in here where you do get some level of overtime’.”
Mr Banfield said he was told once again he wouldn’t be paid overtime because he was a casual.
“From my reading of the award, you should be getting overtime from 10 hours onwards.”
“They said they only apply the award in parts, and because we overpay in some areas, we underpay in others.”
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