An employee who was docked $300 for using his phone while working has hit out at his former boss, saying the job was “not what he signed up for”.
The former employee on Monday posted to Reddit complaining that he had been docked five hours of pay after his January 2 shift that he worked entirely “single-handedly”.
While he conceded he used his phone when there were no customers, his boss Ms Doyle – watching him on cameras from Sydney – said he actually used his phone for five hours straight.
“I don’t think I was on my phone for the entirety of five hours. That’s more than half my entire shift,” he told 7NEWSon Tuesday.
“They would like me to clean the windows, clean the golf courses and clean the whole venue and honestly that’s not what I signed up for.”
Stephanie Doyle told news.com.au that following the casual worker’s post to social media on Monday, he sent her multiple threatening messages.
“The employee has been texting and emailing me saying he will escalate further to media if I don’t pay him immediately,” Ms Doyle claimed.
“The threats are very disappointing. There is no need to try to destroy someone’s business or their reputation.”
“He worked close to nine hours and I paid him for four, which were the hours he was not on his phone,” she continued, adding that he was “head down and engrossed in his phone” the whole time.
After taking the docking of his pay to social media, the internet responded by flooding Birdies’ Google page with false one-star reviews, and messaging Ms Doyle “vile” things on her business and personal social media accounts.
While some believe she broke the law by denying the worker pay for the full time he was at the business, she has maintained she sought legal advice and remains firm on not paying him.
“Fair Work is a fantastic resource. If the employee wants to he can contact them and Fair Work will investigate,” Ms Doyle said.
“To hold a business to ransom through fear of reputational damage is unnecessary and manipulative.”
The employee has denied threatening his former boss, telling news.com.au he just “emailed saying if she doesn’t pay I will go to Fair Work”.
“If that’s what she means by a ‘threat’.”
He confirmed he told her he had been contacted by the media, but he didn’t mean it as a “threat”.
“I have also said in that email that I don’t condone what the other Redditors are doing. And this was not my intention when I posted to Reddit.”
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