An organisation providing free legal help for people in Melbourne’s west is calling on the state government to provide school and TAFE-based education on work rights.
WEstjustice has released a report, Ignorance is NOT bliss, which also calls on the government to make available free legal advice to all Victorians aged under 25.
Report author Francesca Lai said a need for more local education and legal support on work rights and responsibilities had been identified in the west, leading to the Youth Employment Justice Program.
“This program ran for the last two years and we recently launched our report detailing the positive outcomes it has enabled plus recommendations for government,” she said.
“The program ran 37 education sessions to over 1800 local young people in Melbourne’s west. It also provided free legal advice and assistance to 110 clients over two years.
“This empowered participants to exercise their rights at work and led to over $150,000 owed to young people being repaid by employers.
“We found that young people are often locked out of work, exploited by employers and fired unfairly or unlawfully for questioning their pay or conditions. Lack of knowledge combined with insecure and poorly paid jobs was driving this.”
Stephanie, a young person supported by the program, said her employer had been systematically underpaying staff for many years and ignoring requests to discuss entitlements under the award.
“I approached WEstjustice to get information on what my legal rights were and they gave me a clear picture of my situation,” she said.
“They also helped me formally approach my employer and seek over $2000 in wages owed to me for the previous four months.
“In the end, I was repaid over $2000 and the information WEstjustice provided led to others getting back pay as well – almost $20,000 in one case.
“Many people don’t really understand their work rights and what to expect from employers, especially young people who are often just grateful to have a job.
“If we learned about employment issues at school then at least we would go into jobs with our eyes open.
“Having legal support to resolve problems and make sure we are not being ripped off is the other half of the problem.
“Right now, many jobs for young people are more about exploiting them than giving them a chance to learn skills and start a career and that needs to change.”
