Wage theft

[marwi_3023]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-16/wage-theft-report/10505412

It isn't just the hospitality industry.
I had about $30000 stolen from me by a private school when I was a boarding house master.
They didn't even pay the teachers properly.

[lyhargr_0]

And you are still able to bend over and shear sheep    ..... amazing lol

[chameleon54]

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@lyhargr_0 wrote:

And you are still able to bend over and shear sheep    ..... amazing lol

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As much as I would like to, I can no longer shear any number of sheep. Although, I can still shear quickly enough, I get a contractor in to do all my shearing now. I only do the occasional sheep to help some-one out. But thanks for your concern anyway........

[lyhargr_0]

Well of course I was concerned   ...... for the sheep that is 🙂

[lyndal1838]

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@lyhargr_0 wrote:

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

So what is your solution to businesses that do not employ anyone but the husband and wife owners and the husband works 13-14 hours a day, 5 days a week.

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If he is forced to work those hours in order to make a living, then clearly something isnt right within the business, perhaps a good overhaul is needed

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You are correct that something is not right, but it is not within our business.   My husband is a StarTrack subcontractor and there is plenty wrong with the way Australia Post treats their contractors, especially those who are paid by the number of parcels delivered.

My husband is on hourly hire with a run in the CBD so does not have huge fuel costs for a start.

He is not forced to work the hours he does.he chooses to do so and he actually brings home a very good amount of money.....until you take into account the expense of compliance with government rules.

I have just paid the ATO $3000 or approximately a quarter of the company income for a months worth of Tax and GST....being a Service industry we have very minimal GST credits.  It takes roughly a day and a half worth of income to cover statutory requirements, the necessary insurances and general running costs.  It is considerably more expensive to register and insure a business vehicle than a family sedan.

At the end of the day we get approximately a third of the company income in our pockets for our own use.

[marwi_3023]

In Victoria it costs considerably less to register a commercial vehicle than a family sedan and my insurance was the same as my sedan.
I do live in the country and I believe both would be more expensive in say Melbourne but my understanding is that the increase is the same for a commercial vehicle as a family sedan.
I might be wrong but I believe that Victoria has the cheapest vehicle registration charges in Australia

[lyndal1838]

It certainly sounds like Victoria has cheaper registration than NSW although I do know that registration in rural areas is much cheaper than in Sydney, where we live.

When my two daughters lived in Sydney they had similar cars and paid similar registration and insurance.  When one girl moved to a rural city her costs almost halved.

[springyzone]

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@chameleon54 wrote

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Often small business owners are like me, older people who the labor market simply wont employ, regardless of the skills or experience we have to offer. In other cases, small business owners simply like the freedom to think and act without having to have ideas presented to a meeting to be discussed and deferred to the next meeting when a feasability study will be discussed to decide wether to go to the next step and commision a full study on the pros and cons of buying a new coffee machine for the staff room.

Spoiler

Yes I did work as a public servent for many years...........

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I don't know about the public service but I used to work in a government job, as a teacher. While the government did make a staff room allowance for things such as a fridge, tables, chairs etc, we always paid for our own coffee/tea supplies and for detergent for the dishwasher. Even those who didn't drink tea or coffee paid a small amount each term to pay for their use of glassware, dishwasher tablets etc. We also were paying for any visitors to the school who were invited in and able to make themselves a coffee etc.

On report nights where we stayed late (or later than usual, probably till about 8.30-9pm) there was no way the Principal was able to claim a meal allowance of any kind for us. I forget exactly how it worked but if he had tried, it would have meant a very heavy tax. He actually got around it by putting it down as something else and shouting us some pizzas to share, which was appreciated.

I guess what I am saying is not every job has the same perks.

Most jobs have some, even when you just consider small things like using someone else's electricity, toilet, toilet paper etc

It costs money to run a business. Having said that, most people who run their own business are able to make tax claims the ordinary PAYE employee could only dream of. That doesn't mean that all self employed people are having it easy though. It is like those in government employment I guess-those in top businesses are doing fine while for the average person trying to run a small business, it is often a struggle.

All that I do know is things seem a bit skewed to me, when you have some CEOs of companies being paid several million each year even if the companies aren't doing so well, while you have people at the other end of the scale sometimes having their wages or conditions slashed. I don't have the answers, uinfortunately. Just know there has to be a balance.