Marisa Bidois: Restaurant Association boss on new Holidays Act changes

Changes to the Holidays Act have been welcomed by businesses as long overdue.

The new system will include accrual for sick and annual leave.

The Government says it will be two years before these changes are implemented.

But Restaurant Association boss Marisa Bidois told Francesca Rudkin the industry wants a faster timeline.

She says while she understands the need to update systems, some of their systems are already ready to go.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
As expected, the government's overhauling the Holidays Act. Sickly will
now be pro ruter matching hours worked instead of flat
ten days, and your leave will also occurue based on ours,
giving workers more flexibility. Marissa Bdoir, the Restaurant Association chief executive,
is with me now. Good morning, Maroissa, thanks for your.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Time, Good morning, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Is this a long time coming for you?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Absolutely, it has been a very long time coming. The
work's gone on over the last year, but it's been
twenty years really since issues with the old system started happening,
So we're very pleased to see this reform coming through.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
So how does this provide clarity for businesses?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Well, look, in particular for hospitality businesses, a lot of
our businesses don't work on a forty hour week at all.
We're employing casual employees, we're employing part timers. The new
system really takes into account those more different and modern
ways of working as well. So it's really getting an

(01:01):
overhaul and being adapted to be more user friendly in
the modern world, I think is the best way to
describe it.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Will it change the way businesses interact with their employees?

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Look, I think as far as that interaction with employees,
it's going to simplify things for both employers and employees.
And I think anything in this space when it comes
to pay, if it's easier to understand, it's going to
be better for everybody.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
In hospo. Do you have a lot of part timers
or do you have a lot of casual workers?

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yes, we do. We do have a lot of part
time workers and casual workers across different parts of the sector.
Also seasonal, you know, we have people coming in to
help out with a busy season for example. You know,
So this is this type of approach will make it
much easier for employers. The old system based a lot

(01:57):
of its calculations on either weekly for annual leave or
daily for sickly. This really simplifies it by making both
of those areas provided sort of over an hourly basis.
So it really does simplify it.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
The unions have sort of taken a look at this one.
We've all taken a look at and gone, okay, it's
quite good for casual workers, but it's a little bit
of a potentially could be a step back for part
time as if you take a look at sick pay,
that they will potentially see a reduction of leave entitlement.
Is that a concern for you?

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Look, I think it sort of balances out, to be honest,
I think it sort of matches the hours that you work.
If you are a full time employee, you are going
to be seeing more sickly than titlements. If you are
a part time you know, employee, then yes it is reduced,
But I think it balances out as far as you're

(02:51):
the hours that you're actually working.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Was anything else that you looked at with this overhaul
and you thought, right, that is going to be, you know,
great for the hospitality industry specifically.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Look, I think it really is around that change from
weekly and daily to hourly. I know so many employers
who agonize over essentially making sure that they're getting these
payments correct when it comes to sick pay or holiday pay.
And I mean, if we're looking at large corporate organizations

(03:26):
and even some government departments, we're making mistakes on this.
You can imagine what a nightmare it has been for
small businesses.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
So I worked in hospital when I was at university
and things, Marissa, and I don't think I ever got
the right holiday pay or sick paid. You know what
I was expecting, never.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
Quite any right, you know, so it's always kind of
been like and that was quite a long time ago.
I suppose the other thing you locate here too, is
obviously they're hoping to get this legislation through the House
before the end of the year, or at.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Least before the end of this term. Then it's another
couple of years. You know, we've got to change all
the software. It's still a bit of a long hauling heat.
It's a shame we can't fast take this exactly.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
And that's one of some of the feedback we've been
receiving from employers business owners. They're just like, wow, we
have to wait this long before we implement this. And yes,
I understand that, you know, we have systems to update,
but a lot of the systems that we've been reviewing
are already in some ways ready to go. So yeah,
it does seem like a long time to wait before

(04:27):
the actual implementation happens. But I guess we need time
to educate everyone, get your rid up to speed. But yes,
it'd be great if we could kick it off earlier.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Rissa, thank you so much for your time this morning.
Have a great day. For more fam Earlily Edition with
Ryan Bridge. Listen live to news talks it Be from
five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio