Te Papa casual staff unable to work at Level 2 are not getting paid due to a loophole in the Government's guidance to Crown entities.
Casual hospitality employees of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa are falling between the cracks of bureaucracy as they are unable to get the wage subsidy, unable to work at Level 2, and not being paid.
The wage subsidy has been available to all private companies that experienced a 40 percent revenue drop because of Covid-19 lockdowns to pay workers, including casuals. Businesses at Level 2 were also eligible to apply for the wage subsidy while Auckland was at Level 4 or 3.
But Crown entities such as Te Papa were not entitled to the wage subsidy, and the museum’s casual hospitality workers feel they are disadvantaged by the Government's guidance that does not obligate their employer to pay them at Level 2.
Te Papa has 655 employees, many of whom are casual employees who work for its events’ team, serving guests at conferences and events.
During Level 3 and 4, casual staff were told Te Papa was going “over and above” it’s obligation by agreeing to pay them.
However, that was the Public Service Commission's standing guidance, which set out the expectation that Crown entities were to pay workers, including casuals during Levels 3 and 4.
There has been no such guidance for businesses that cannot operate under Level 2 restrictions.
As a result, Te Papa's casual hospitality staff had gone without pay for at least two weeks since Wellington moved to Level 2, despite them being unable to work under the restrictions.
Workers Newsroom spoke to did not want to be named due to terms in their employment contracts, but said they felt worse off working for a public organisation than they would have been working for a private company that would have had the opportunity to claim the wage subsidy to pay casual staff.
One said he was missing out on at least $600 for every week that Auckland was in Level 4 or 3 lockdown.
His job at Te Papa was his main source of income.
“I’d like the Government to say either the wage subsidy is available to everyone, or mandate that Crown entities pay casual employees as usual,” he said.
Casuals did not have set hours nor did they have set work patterns, but the Te Papa worker said that before the lockdown he worked about 32 hours a week.
His casual colleagues had also been working regular weekly hours for months, and years in some cases.
“I’d like the Government to say either the wage subsidy is available to everyone, or mandate that Crown entities pay casual employees as usual." – Casual employee, Te Papa
The Te Papa worker raised his concerns with Finance Minister Grant Robertson who said the Public Service Commission’s guidance expected agencies to support staff through lockdown if they were unable to work under Level 3 and 4 but did not expect employers to pay casuals during Levels 1 or 2 because they were “less restrictive” and mostly “business as usual”.
But the worker argues, Level 2 was not business as usual for Te Papa.
The museum's chief executive Courtney Johnson said that under Level 2 restrictions many of its venue hire clients had chosen to cancel or postpone bookings because gatherings were restricted to 50 people.
Under Level 3 and 4 all staff, including casuals, were paid, irrespective of their contract status. Casual staff were paid based on the actual number of hours worked, rostered hours, and average hours worked before lockdown.
Under Alert Level 2, casual staff returned to rostered hours. But lower demand and visitation meant the need for casual staff had also decreased.
“Like much of New Zealand, Te Papa has been adversely affected by Covid-19. When Te Papa re-opened under alert Level 2, capacity restrictions increased as per governmental guidelines. With gatherings restricted to 50 people, many of our venue hire clients have chosen to cancel or postpone bookings until gathering restrictions lift,” Johnson said.
“We know from experience of previous lockdowns that like many destinations in New Zealand, when Aucklanders are unable to travel, visitation to the museum decreases.
"Since 2020 we’ve seen a trend where Te Papa’s event business has bounced back once capacity restrictions have lifted. We’re hopeful New Zealand will return safely to alert Level 1 as soon as possible.”
"If there would’ve been a pattern of income, it would make sense for the employer to honour that.” – Richard Wagstaff, Council for Trade Unions
Council for Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff said employers should honour the spirit of their casual workers' contracts and pay them at raised alert levels even if they were unable to work.
“Any agency getting funded to operate should act in good faith. It should be about maintaining what [workers] would reasonably expect to have [earned] through that period, even if you’re a casual worker.
“The employer should honour the spirit of agreements through an ongoing employment relationship if they have regular people working. If there would’ve been a pattern of income, it would make sense for the employer to honour that.”
Wagstaff said the raised alert levels left casual workers “extremely vulnerable”.
“People who have precarious work are always vulnerable when things go bad, and this is a good example of it,” he said.
Wagstaff had raised concerns about the rights of casual workers during raised alert levels earlier this month with Employment Minister Michael Wood, as these issues were “widespread”, but was yet to hear back from him.
Wood told Newsroom he had “several representations on the issue” of casual workers’ eligibility of the wage subsidy and was “looking into it”.
