From the 1st of July, businesses in retail, hospitality, fast food and pharmacy were entitled to reduce the rates paid to staff for Sunday work.
But a number of Mountains businesses have declined to cut wages, generally citing a simple reason: It’s just not fair.
One such employer is Jodie Dalglish, owner/manager of Megalong Books in Leura.
“One of the reasons is we have university students who work here and they can only work those days on the weekend and to cut them back would be quite difficult for them.
“And I think if you come in and give up your day with the family you give a bit more [than on weekdays],” she said.
“I also think my staff are worth it – we have staff here who are quite specialised and I think they need to be treasured so we pay them a bit more.
“And I don’t think it’s fair [to cut the rates].”
At Murray’s Glenbrook Cellars, owner Murray Croft echoed Ms Dalglish’s thoughts.
“The staff are probably the most valuable asset we have,” he said.
“They work very hard and it just didn’t seem fair to say to them, one week you are working for this much and next week you’re making less.
it just didn’t seem fair to say to them, one week you are working for this much and next week you’re making less
- Murray Croft
“We’re a small family business and we give these guys the keys to the shop.
“They have full control of the shop and we have to make sure they’re happy,” Mr Croft said.
“I just think it’s the right thing to do.”
Sarah and Gary Vassallo run the Clean Slate Cafe in Katoomba Street and had a “good hard look” at the penalty rates issue before deciding to maintain the old Sunday wages.
“It’s really hard to ask people to work on weekends for what they would earn during the week,” said Mrs Vassallo.
“It was purely based on fairness.”
Both have spent a lot of time themselves doing weekend work and were aware of how important the penalty rates could be.
“They brought them in for a reason,” Mrs Vassallo said.
“A lot of people rely on those penalties to top up their income to be able to afford to live, basically.”
The cuts to rates are the result of a decision by the Fair Work Commission made in February last year.
Sunday wages for retail workers could be reduced from 200 per cent of the standard rate to 150 per cent for full-time and part-time staff, if employers chose to implement the cuts.
