Fletcher staff miss out on annual leave top-up

Thursday, 16 April 2020

Fletcher Building employees say their pay hasn't been processed correctly, as the company moves to trim salaries.

The company proposed a 12-week pay plan, starting last week, where non-working staff would receive 65 per cent of their salaries until April 22.

After the four-week lockdown their salaries would be slashed by 50 per cent for the next month, and by 70 per cent the following month.

But staff said, in the most recent pay run, people only received the 65 per cent of pay they had agreed to. Those who had opted to top up with the remaining 35 per cent annual leave did not receive it.

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Staff say their pay hasn't been topped up by annual leave as it should have.

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'Most of the staff affected are those who rely on living paycheque to paycheque.

n an earlier email to staff explain the pay proposals, chief executive Ross Taylor said the company had to make business decisions 'in an environment with no production, no sales and therefore extremely limited income'.

'The only reason I contact is that I, and many others already felt betrayed with their lack of fair judgement on their original pay bridging plan that many were coerced into, but for them to not hold their end of the bargain is disgusting,' one, who wanted to remain anonymous, said.

A Fletcher Building spokesman said they knew of the problem.

'We are aware that some of our people who wanted to have their pay topped-up with annual leave did not have this reflected in their pay this week. We are working to resolve the issue with our affected people on a case-by-case basis to ensure they receive their pay top-ups.'

Fletcher Building executives had earlier said they would take a 15 per cent pay cut during the same period, but that was later extended to 30 per cent for the 12 senior executives.

In an earlier email to staff explain the pay proposals, chief executive Ross Taylor said the company had to make business decisions 'in an environment with no production, no sales and therefore extremely limited income, for a yet undetermined period'.

'We want to support our people through the current uncertainty and provide clarity around pay so our people who are not working can plan ahead.

'At the same time, we need to tightly manage our financial position to ensure that our business remains resilient and in a strong position to resume operations, as when the restrictions are lifted. We also need to factor in that that any restart would be a gradual process,' Taylor said.