Flippin’ unfair: Grill’d pay dispute heats up

A BURGER-FLIPPING student activist has taken burger joint Grill’d to court, alleging she was sacked for daring to mount a wage challenge.

Burger chain accused of ripping off workers

A BURGER-FLIPPING student activist has taken Grill’d to court, alleging she was sacked for daring to mount a wage challenge.

Melbourne’s Kahlani Pyrah, a second-year environmental sciences student who spends her spare time organising rallies against the Abbott Government, has launched a Federal Court bid to get her job back.

Ms Pyrah claimed she was fired for questioning her $17.52 an hour pay rate at Grill’d Camberwell, where she had worked for just over a year.

The amount is about a dollar an hour below the national award, and up to $10 an hour less at the weekend penalty rate.

“I told my managers at Grill’d we were sick of being paid below the minimum wage,” Ms Pyrah said.

“My workmates know I’m in the union, so they asked if I could help. When I looked into our job contract, I realised Grill’d had been paying us below the minimum wage for a really long time.”

She said the contract was based on laws that applied in 2007, under then Prime Minister John Howard’s controversial Work Choices legislation.

“The bosses at Grill’d met with us and said they would pay all the staff what they were owed,” Ms Pyrah said.

“They also said they would pay us the award if we didn’t apply to terminate the contract.

But they didn’t. They just kept on making excuses ... So I filed the notice to terminate the Work Choices contract at the Fair Work Commission ... 11 days later I was sacked.”

She said the company accused her of bullying another staff member.

“I was sacked for standing up for my rights,” Ms Pyrah alleged.

But a Grill’d spokeswoman denied the allegations, saying in a statement to Fairfax Media that the claims were “vigorously denied by management and would be strongly defended” and that its workplace agreements and pay rates were lawful.

“Grill’d Camberwell is a small family-owned franchise business,” the statement said.

“The franchise partners at this restaurant work very hard to make staff and community responsibilities their highest priority.”

Ms Pyrah is no stranger to standing up for what she believes in; last year, the then 19-year-old organised a Bust the Budget rally against the Federal Government in Gladstone, Queensland.

And in last September’s student elections at Monash University, she was temporarily suspended from campaigning for distributing unauthorised materials, for flogging copies of the Socialist Alternative newspaper Red Flag.

A petition calling for Ms Pyrah’s reinstatement at Grill’d Camberwell has received more than 12,000 signatures since it was launched on Sunday.

And the popular burger chain has been slammed by customers on Facebook, with many vowing to boycott Grill’d, while Ms Pyrah’s supporters tweet with the hashtag #grilldandburnd.

Boycotting this place as they can't even pay their staff properly. If they work overtime, pay them. Simple!

Posted by Lucille Murray on Sunday, July 19, 2015

For a restaurant that charges well above any other burger place, you would think thay would pay their staff fairly. I...

Posted by Chris Jensen on Sunday, July 19, 2015