Hilton Darwin accused of underpayment and tampering
Hilton Darwin will face the Fair Work Commission after a chef claimed she was underpaid, overworked, and told to rub expiry dates off drink cans.
Jacqueline Dent, who has been a cook at the hotel since November 2020, alleges she was frequently directed to sell expired drinks to customers and was underpaid and working in poor conditions.
Dent alleges her timesheets were tampered with to add in unpaid breaks she did not take. She counted 645 occasions where a half-hour break had been deducted from her pay that she hadn’t taken.
She is also alleging tips were withheld from workers if there had been “too much breakage”.
The United Workers’ Union lodged a statement with the Fair Work Commission outlining Dent’s allegations including that “beers that had passed their expiry date should be served at the pool, given they would be poured into plastic cups and the bottle not given to the customer”.
“As well as this, people were often instructed to remove expiry dates from the bottom of cans using methylated spirits to be used in mini bars,” she said.
Dent cited “excessive workload” due to understaffing and noted kitchen staff were not able to take breaks because “chefs should not have breaks as they can eat at any time”.
She alleges a sous chef told her “if a docket comes in as we leave to take our break we cannot say to the guest that you have to wait 30 minutes before I start your order”.
Dent is also disputing being misclassified as a cook.
She claims she should have been promoted to at least a Commis Chef, having become a fourth-year apprentice in March 2021.
Hilton Darwin declined to comment. A hearing date is set for later this month.
Jonathan Jackson, 12th October 2023
