Cleaner devastated over losing job hours
Victoria Charters-Leahy wants people to see her for more than cerebral palsy.
But after the Tı¯rau 23-year-old, who has been cleaning the town’s public toilets since January 2020, lost all her hours whilst her two colleagues kept theirs when the South Waikato District Council changed contractors, she’s been left feeling discriminated.
With previous contractor RYH Contracting she worked 15 hours every week on what was meant to be a casual contract but following Spotless, a Downer company, being awarded the contract in December she’s been given none. That’s despite the company keeping her on and giving regular hours to her two colleagues who are also on casual contracts.
Charters-Leahy, who prior to getting the job missed out on numerous others due to her disability, is crushed.
‘‘They rang me and basically said I don’t have a job any more and that they would be here to pick up the keys and my uniform immediately,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m devastated. [This job gave me] purpose and meaning.’’
She said she cleaned the toilets four times a day from Monday to
Friday and always left them immaculate. Other than receiving a verbal warning for leaving her keys in a cupboard there were no other issues.
‘‘You should give everyone a chance to fix their mistakes,’’ she said. ‘‘I don’t know why they have done this. My family is devastated for me as well.’’
Downer and Spotless facilities services general manager Grady Cameron said the company was not in a position to offer hours to three cleaners.
‘‘We held 50 per cent of the cleaning contract on a trial basis for two months as part of [the council’s] tendering process,’’ he said.
‘‘For those two months we employed three cleaners in Tirau, all on casual contracts. They were the same staff who had worked casually for the previous cleaning contractor.
‘‘Once we began the contract officially, after this trial period, we were only able to offer hours to two of the three cleaners on a regular basis.’’
Cameron said the decision not to offer any to Charters-Leahy was not based on performance but he didn’t elaborate further.
‘‘There were no performance issues with any of the casual contractors during the trial, so this didn’t factor into the decision-making,’’ he said. ‘‘We have two casual cleaning staff who continue to take care of the Tirau site.’’
He confirmed Charters-Leahy remains on the company’s books.
‘‘Should we have the opportunity to expand in the area we would be once again be able to offer cleaning hours to Victoria,’’ he said.
South Waikato District Council communications adviser Anthony Momoemausu said the council supports the company’s decision.
‘‘The council believes Spotless have handled this situation in a professional manner and continue to work alongside Ms Charters-Leahy and her family to resolve any misunderstandings. This is the nature of casual contracts, however, the council is hopeful the circumstances will change where Ms Charters-Leahy will be offered further hours from her employer,’’ he said.
Tı¯rau Councillor Peter Schulte disagreed. He believes because ChartersLeahy was working five days a week she shouldn’t have been treated as a casual employee.
According to Employment New Zealand, ‘casual employee’ isn’t defined in employment legislation but the term usually refers to ‘‘a situation where the employee has no guaranteed hours of work, no regular pattern of work, and no ongoing expectation of employment’’.
‘‘In my opinion if Victoria worked every day then that is definitely not a causal employee. She should have been treated better and a company like Downer should know better,’’ Schulte said.
Charters-Leahy said she is struggling to find other work in the town.
‘‘It’s hard [living with cerebral palsy] but there is nothing I can do about it,’’ she said.