Brisbane business owners warned on risks of changing staff roles

Business owners are being warned that changes they make to workers’ roles to stay viable — like from waitstaff to food delivery — need to come with appropriate pay and training.

Some businesses are trying to keep workers employed by changing their roles, like from hospitality to food delivery, but they are being warned to do it properly. File Picture: David Swift

BRISBANE businesses redeploying staff from hospitality or retail into delivery driver roles have been warned to upskill and pay workers properly or risk compliance issues.

National Retailers Association chief executive officer Dominique Lamb said any restaurateurs, cafe or retail owners should be careful about changing employees’ roles.

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She was responding to reports restaurateurs and other retailers were keeping staff on in different roles, mostly delivery work, to ensure they remained employed.

“Where businesses are able to pivot like that, excellent,” she said.

“But from experience we know it’s a very complicated area of the law that people often get wrong, so we would definitely caution people before they started doing that.

“We want them to be compliant so it’s really important that they get the right advice and accurate information.

“I would greatly recommend that they seek specialist industrial relations advice.”

Transport Workers Union secretary Michael Kaine said switching to a transport role involved a different award, different rates and different allowances.

He said transport workers had the highest numbers of fatalities of any workers in Australia and any change in role should come with training and a focus on safety.

“Often the risks come when workers are under pressure and they are forced to speed, drive and work for long hours and skip breaks,” he said.

“While all employers are under pressure now, they must ensure workers are safe, are paid appropriate rates and are not under pressure to meet unrealistic deadlines.

“I would urge any transport workers to ensure they know their rights and that they have a voice to raise issues at work.”