verbal agreement lies

If there's one thing Kate wants every working person to know it's that verbal work agreements aren't worth the paper they're not written on.

"In my last casual job I was promised a permanent job after four weeks," explains Kate, "and naturally I worked my butt off for four weeks and then they had the cheek to tell me that I wasn't fast enough to be given a permanent job."

"I put in more work than anyone else at that place and they knew that," says Kate. "They just lied to me to get me to work like a slave for them. They had no intention of giving me a permanent job."

"I couldn't sue them or anything because I didn't have anything in writing," explains Kate. "It was a verbal agreement, a ‘my word against theirs’ situation."

"Even casual workers are entitled to some sort of written advice regarding terms of employment," says Kate, "and without that piece of paper you don't have a real job and you risk being exploited."

"In fact," says Kate, "if you're really unlucky you may not even get paid."

"Verbal agreements are really risky because you won’t have a proper job with all of your entitlements guaranteed," says Kate, "The only benefit is that without a written agreement you are really under no obligation to give notice to quit."

"I had one really bad casual job on a verbal agreement that I quit after my first week's pay and never went back," laughs Kate. “So, I was lucky I could do that and get away with it.”

"I know that some employers are struggling," says Kate, "but damn it, so am I, and exploiting me for their benefit is beneath contempt."

Read more by Kate on this subject:

toughen up labor laws!

temp agencies take away hassles

working on trial