A former senior venture supervisor is ready to file a declare in Federal Courtroom in opposition to Perth Airport, saying she “had to decide on [her] well being over a system that refused to acknowledge cheap boundaries”.
As first reported by The Australian Monetary Evaluate, former senior venture supervisor at Perth Airport, Jessica Sertis, is launching proceedings within the Federal Courtroom of Australia, alleging she needed to work as much as 75-hour weeks.
AFR reported that the airport required her to tackle the duties of two full-time managers, for a remuneration package deal of $208,000.
Chatting with Australian Aviation’s sister publication HR Chief, Maurice Blackburn Attorneys principal Patrick Turner – who’s representing Sertis – stated that staff like her go above and past to get the job achieved, “however that shouldn’t be exploited”.
“Too many employers imagine that the 38-hour week is only a guideline,” he stated.
“Work-life steadiness isn’t a fad or a pattern. It’s elementary to employee security and to assembly our obligations to our households and people for whom we care.
“It’s vital that staff train their rights when they’re required to work unreasonable extra hours.”
The looming proceedings comply with a “vital improve” in critical claims being introduced over the previous decade, in response to analysis from SafeWork Australia. Apparently, such an increase coincides with a rise within the variety of workers who imagine that their companies are prioritising well being and security (as much as 80 per cent this yr, in comparison with 70 per cent in 2023, in response to COS).
Sertis stated, in a press release, that leaving her position at Perth Airport was “one of many hardest choices I’ve ever needed to make”.
“It was my dream job — a place I labored tirelessly to earn. However the relentless stress to work extreme additional time, typically with out help or regard for private wellbeing, turned unsustainable,” she stated.
“I gave all the things I had, however ultimately, I had to decide on my well being over a system that refused to acknowledge cheap boundaries.”
What made it much more devastating, Sertis went on, “was realizing that the airport’s calls for weren’t simply unfair, they had been illegal”.
“The constant expectation to work properly past contracted hours, with out acceptable compensation or consideration, breached office legal guidelines designed to guard workers,” she stated.
“And, like so many ladies, I felt the disproportionate burden of those expectations. Time beyond regulation tradition reinforces a system the place success comes at the price of private sacrifice.
“Nobody ought to have to decide on between their profession and their wellbeing.”
Perth Airport has been contacted for remark.
