Major changes

Owner rewards her staff

ST ALBI restaurant general manager Lucy Baker will not reduce penalty rates for the 15 to 20 staff at her Moonah restaurant.

Although able to reduce Sunday and public holiday loadings from 175 per cent to 150 per cent over three years under the Fair Work Commission decision, she has decided to reward staff who are willing to work.

“I’m a bit of a fence-sitter on this issue and can see both sides,” she said. “It is a shame when tourists have nowhere to go because penalty rates make it too expensive for restaurants and cafes to open up.

We do a great trade on Sundays and public holidays so it will be good to reward staff

LUCY BAKER

“Also, people employed by operations which don’t open are earning nothing, so it could be said 50 per cent of something is better than 100 per cent of nothing.”

But she said a lot of her staff were university students who had a chance to earn a bit more on Sundays and public holidays.

“We are lucky that we do a great trade on Sundays and public holidays so it will be good to reward staff,” she said.

“We will continue to pay the 175 per cent loading and that will be a win-win.”

The 150-seat restaurant operates seven days a week from noon until late and benefits from public holidays.

“We have an amazing regular customer base,” she said.