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Speaker 1: As expected, the government's overhauling the Holidays Act. Sickly will

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Speaker 1: now be pro ruter matching hours worked instead of flat

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Speaker 1: ten days, and your leave will also occurue based on ours,

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Speaker 1: giving workers more flexibility. Marissa Bdoir, the Restaurant Association chief executive,

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Speaker 1: is with me now. Good morning, Maroissa, thanks for your.

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Speaker 2: Time, Good morning, Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Is this a long time coming for you?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, it has been a very long time coming. The

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Speaker 2: work's gone on over the last year, but it's been

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Speaker 2: twenty years really since issues with the old system started happening,

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Speaker 2: So we're very pleased to see this reform coming through.

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Speaker 1: So how does this provide clarity for businesses?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, in particular for hospitality businesses, a lot of

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Speaker 2: our businesses don't work on a forty hour week at all.

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Speaker 2: We're employing casual employees, we're employing part timers. The new

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Speaker 2: system really takes into account those more different and modern

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Speaker 2: ways of working as well. So it's really getting an

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Speaker 2: overhaul and being adapted to be more user friendly in

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Speaker 2: the modern world, I think is the best way to

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Speaker 2: describe it.

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Speaker 1: Will it change the way businesses interact with their employees?

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Speaker 2: Look, I think as far as that interaction with employees,

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Speaker 2: it's going to simplify things for both employers and employees.

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Speaker 2: And I think anything in this space when it comes

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Speaker 2: to pay, if it's easier to understand, it's going to

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Speaker 2: be better for everybody.

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Speaker 1: In hospo. Do you have a lot of part timers

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Speaker 1: or do you have a lot of casual workers?

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Speaker 2: Yes, we do. We do have a lot of part

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Speaker 2: time workers and casual workers across different parts of the sector.

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Speaker 2: Also seasonal, you know, we have people coming in to

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Speaker 2: help out with a busy season for example. You know,

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Speaker 2: So this is this type of approach will make it

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Speaker 2: much easier for employers. The old system based a lot

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Speaker 2: of its calculations on either weekly for annual leave or

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Speaker 2: daily for sickly. This really simplifies it by making both

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Speaker 2: of those areas provided sort of over an hourly basis.

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Speaker 2: So it really does simplify it.

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Speaker 1: The unions have sort of taken a look at this one.

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Speaker 1: We've all taken a look at and gone, okay, it's

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Speaker 1: quite good for casual workers, but it's a little bit

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Speaker 1: of a potentially could be a step back for part

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Speaker 1: time as if you take a look at sick pay,

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Speaker 1: that they will potentially see a reduction of leave entitlement.

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Speaker 1: Is that a concern for you?

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Speaker 2: Look, I think it sort of balances out, to be honest,

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Speaker 2: I think it sort of matches the hours that you work.

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Speaker 2: If you are a full time employee, you are going

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Speaker 2: to be seeing more sickly than titlements. If you are

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Speaker 2: a part time you know, employee, then yes it is reduced,

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Speaker 2: But I think it balances out as far as you're

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Speaker 2: the hours that you're actually working.

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Speaker 1: Was anything else that you looked at with this overhaul

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Speaker 1: and you thought, right, that is going to be, you know,

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Speaker 1: great for the hospitality industry specifically.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think it really is around that change from

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Speaker 2: weekly and daily to hourly. I know so many employers

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Speaker 2: who agonize over essentially making sure that they're getting these

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Speaker 2: payments correct when it comes to sick pay or holiday pay.

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Speaker 2: And I mean, if we're looking at large corporate organizations

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Speaker 2: and even some government departments, we're making mistakes on this.

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Speaker 2: You can imagine what a nightmare it has been for

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Speaker 2: small businesses.

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Speaker 1: So I worked in hospital when I was at university

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Speaker 1: and things, Marissa, and I don't think I ever got

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Speaker 1: the right holiday pay or sick paid. You know what

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Speaker 1: I was expecting, never.

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Speaker 3: Quite any right, you know, so it's always kind of

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Speaker 3: been like and that was quite a long time ago.

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Speaker 3: I suppose the other thing you locate here too, is

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Speaker 3: obviously they're hoping to get this legislation through the House

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Speaker 3: before the end of the year, or at.

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Speaker 1: Least before the end of this term. Then it's another

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Speaker 1: couple of years. You know, we've got to change all

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Speaker 1: the software. It's still a bit of a long hauling heat.

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Speaker 1: It's a shame we can't fast take this exactly.

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Speaker 2: And that's one of some of the feedback we've been

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Speaker 2: receiving from employers business owners. They're just like, wow, we

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Speaker 2: have to wait this long before we implement this. And yes,

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Speaker 2: I understand that, you know, we have systems to update,

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Speaker 2: but a lot of the systems that we've been reviewing

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Speaker 2: are already in some ways ready to go. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: it does seem like a long time to wait before

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Speaker 2: the actual implementation happens. But I guess we need time

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Speaker 2: to educate everyone, get your rid up to speed. But yes,

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Speaker 2: it'd be great if we could kick it off earlier.

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Speaker 1: Rissa, thank you so much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Have a great day. For more fam Earlily Edition with

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Speaker 1: Ryan Bridge. Listen live to news talks it Be from

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