EMPLOYMENT ADVICE NEEDED!!! Please, urgent?
Question by Andrea Dee: EMPLOYMENT ADVICE NEEDED!!! Please, urgent?
The details: So the start of May 2010 I started working fulltime (40hrs a week) at a locally owned small cafe as a cafe assistant. Mid July 2010 I had my hours reduced to 16 hrs per week due to university. 1st November the cafe got taken over by new ownership – two guys fresh out of university owning the business as a ltd liability partnership. Oct/Nov 2010 i’ve finished university for the year – with an intention of taking a break from it for a while- and had my hours increased to 20 hrs a week up until now.
One of the owners, who is the main barista, is heading back to university leaving a 4day /week gap. Subsiquently they hired a new barrista to fill that gap, of which they have informed me that they will be reducing my hours to 8 PER WEEK effective next week!!!!! their excuse was that they couldnt afford all the wages at once. ( and coffee making is more important than hosting aparently)
So I would LOVE to hear your advice on whether or not it is worth it to stay. Bare in mind that i am not on a contract with them & once I hit the 1year mark i’m entitled to my 4week annual holiday pay-payout.(not 6month as stated on employment relations website, but 1yr according to their lawyer),
CONS:
-It’s a 20min drive (by car) to the cafe
-it would be 4 HOURS a fricken day for two days a week
-i would probably spend more on gas driving there for 20mins for 4hrs then driving back 20mins
-the owners are absolutely incompetent and don’t value/appreciate their staff (i sometimes go beyond my job description for them, outside job hours, and don’t get recognition)
-i’m finding it extremely difficult to find a job (have been looking for 4months, had a few interviews with no success)
PRO
-the only pro i can think of is that if i stay until May, i will be entitled to my holiday payout BUT it will be according to my 8hr a week. If i leave now i’ll be entitled to my 20hr a week which means MORE MONEY!! That’s IF i’m entitled to it 2months away from the 1yr mark, which is what i’m not sure about
Sorry for the novel haha but would REAALLLLLYYYY appreciate any advice!!! Thanks 
P.s I live in new zealand so for any legal advice would like to know the equivalent that applies in my jurisdiction. THANKS!!!
Best answer:
Answer by God is love
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away.
for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
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My advice is to join a union immediately. You should of learnt how to negotiate your employment terms a bit better which is why you’re being taken advantage of and I quote “It’s only your own silly fault otherwise”. Which is what they’re really thinking.
Now you’ll have to stay at you’re dead end job until you get a good reason for leaving your past employment history that follows you around everywhere. (Oh yeah that’s what happens when you tell them to stick it) But seeing you’re position I would still tell em to stick their lousy job. Just make sure you can handle it financially otherwise unemployment benefits will be hard to apply for. You could easily apply for a student allowance as it seems to me like it would pay better (not really though) especially since you are studying. A year there would probably be good work experience for a job at Mc D’s which has been subsidised by the govt. including being a great job in offering many promotions and overseas travelling options. Another good trick for your stink job is to deliberately under perform but not by much as you don’t want to be fired but let go. Plus you won’t need to work so hard for these stingy tightazzes. I used to make the coffee for an engineering firm years ago and I was told by my boss not to work so hard but I couldn’t help making him feel guilty for some extra mullah and as that turned out he gave me extra hours off for lunch and was allowed to play computer games. Any way there’s another option for you and I hope I’ve been of some assistance.