As if the big shake wasn’t bad enough.
The cordon around quake-damaged buildings on Featherston Street in central Wellington. Photo: Aaron Smale/RNZ
After the earthquake a couple weeks ago, a lot of us just wanted to get back to normal - and just get back to work. But it wasn’t as simple as that, especially for many hospo workers in Wellington.
Kaikōura is still in a state of emergency. Many small businesses have shut down completely there because in the aftermath of the quake its tourist trade has greatly diminished. Residents, like Christchurch before them, have begun the long process of rebuilding.
Up in the capital, the earthquake left portions of the city closed off as engineers worked to determine what was safe.
Most of the city has re-opened, with only pockets of red tape remaining. All the same, many businesses in the CBD had to close for a few days at least - if not a week or more.
And some their workers, who were often ready and willing to work, couldn’t work or couldn’t make it into the city to work. Some, often with casual contracts or no contract at all, received little or no compensation for the work they had lost.
I am really tempted to go above my employer and claim holiday pay in the courts, but I know that they could just cut my hours.
A hospo worker from Porirua - who didn’t want to be named or identify where she works because she feared being fired - is still without work after flooding in the torrential rain on Tuesday last week shut down her workplace.
They are struggling to cover rent as their contract does not entitle them to holiday pay.
“Technically, I’m on a casual contract, which means that my holiday pay is tacked onto my paycheck … But it’s a pack of shit, because I’ve been working regular nine-to-five hours for nearly a year.”
“I am really tempted to go above my employer and claim holiday pay in the courts, but I know that they could just cut my hours … It’s very easy to fire a technically-casual worker,” they said.
“I just don’t have the savings to skip even a week of work.”
Anna and her younger sister are employed at a family-owned cafe in Thorndon, Wellington that was closed over the last two weeks due to its proximity to the condemned 61 Molesworth St.
Now that the building has been torn down, Anna has returned to work, but did not receive any compensation for the hours she would have had - about $1000 worth of pay, she says.
On the Monday after the initial quake, Anna was called into work despite Civil Defence advising workers to avoid the CBD. She turned down her boss’s offer to work and another worker was given her hours for the week.
Anna works up to 35 hours making coffee, while her sister works about 10 hours outside of school hours. Neither of the women have contracts with their employer.
“They’ve explained to us that they can’t pay us while the cafe is closed because they haven’t got anything coming in … which I understand, but I’m definitely left out in the cold.”
“But it wasn’t my fault that I couldn’t come into the city … We were all feeling pretty anxious that day anyway. And good thing I didn’t go, because now it’s all shut off.
“Now it’s extra stressful. I like my job and my boss but I should really go out and look for something else if I can’t even claim holiday pay.”
A bartender from the Hutt Valley, who also asked not to be named, was cut off from his place of work on Courtenay Place after State Highway Two was closed after the Sunday earthquake.
Now I have to claim holiday pay for that week of shifts, even though I was ready and willing, I just didn’t have the option to drive into work.
“My manager called me in and said we were open, said if there was any way to work my rostered shift … And I said I couldn’t even if I wanted to. And now I have to claim holiday pay for that week of shifts, even though I was ready and willing, I just didn’t have the option to drive into work,” he says.
He has now missed out on two paychecks, equalling about $1300, and has now been told by his employer that they cannot pay him and that they recommend he claim holiday pay.
“It’s my only option, but I’m not really happy about it. I was going to save it for time off over the end of summer, once the bar dies down … I was hoping to spend some time with my parents in Whangarei but I’ll have to see how my bank balance is,” he says.
The Hospitality Association’s general manager for Wellington, Dylan Firth, says that legally speaking, workers on casual contracts cannot claim any benefits from their employer in the event of a natural disaster such as an earthquake.
“In the eyes of the law, however, if you have been working regular hours for more than six months, you are no longer a true casual worker,” he said.
Firth says that fewer hospitality employers are choosing to hire workers on casual contracts than five years ago, but that they are still used by many employers.
“We don’t usually advise to hire employers to use them … They’re not there to escape the rights of the employee,” he said.
But even with permanent full-time and part-time contracts, the law is unclear in regards to what happens with employee benefits in the event of a natural disaster that closes the business.
“After the Christchurch earthquakes, a lot of employers have added a force majeure clause into their contracts that just makes it a bit clearer in the case of natural disasters, or even war … It’s just about making it clear so that it’s easier to be fair and reasonable to each other,” Firth said.
They need guaranteed hours and benefits … It’s basic workers’ rights.
Wellington organiser for hospitality and retail union Unite Jasmine Taanking says that most of her members were satisfied with how their employers had handled any closures in the wake of the recent earthquakes.
“Our biggest focus is actually health and safety for workers … Making sure that the buildings they’re working in have been looked at by an engineer and declared safe,” she said.
She also said that the specific problem of wrongfully deployed casual contracts are hard to detect since often the workplaces that use them aren’t unionised, she said.
“It’s not very legal and not fair to workers. They need guaranteed hours and benefits … It’s basic workers’ rights.”
The government is now offering an employee support subsidy for quake-affected businesses in Wellington and Kaikōura. The subsidy covers up to eight weeks and pays $500 gross per week for a full-time employee and $300 gross per week for a part-time employee.
They also are looking to bring forward the date of recently passed civil defence legislation that can require building owners to undertake earthquake assessments of their properties.
