Legal Obligations and Liabilities of Staff of Hamburger Restaurant

Question

Employing Staff

Your Burger Restaurant is now open.  It has been operating for 3 months.

You have employed a number of staff.

Ben: Hamburger Super Chef – He is a permanent employee.

Carol – Casual waiting staff

Donna – Casual waiting staff

Eddie – Casual staff, and responsible for any deliveries required. He wears no official shirt, and is available “at call” for you and another pizza restaurant in the same shopping mall. He has his own motorcycle.

Ben has caused you a few problems. In fact, last Friday he swore at you in front of the whole group when you reported to him that a customer had complained about a poorly cooked burger, and then he left his shift an hour early and didn’t return.  You know Frank wants  to come and work permanently with you.  You want to get rid of Ben and employ Frank as the new Hamburger Super Chef. Can you do so?

Also you want to employ Carol as a Supervisor but don’t want to pay her the shift penalties prescribed in the Award. Are there consequences here?  Moreover, Donna is injured (suspected broken ankle) during her lunch break when she trips over some boxes that have been left around outside the back door of your restaurant in the carpark.  Are there consequences for you? 

Finally, Eddie’s motorcycle has collided with a pedestrian while delivering burgers for you. Eddie is OK, but are you liable for the injuries to the pedestrian?

Please identify your legal obligations to the staff and what liabilities you may have.

Summary

This question belongs to business law and discusses about legal obligations and liabilities of staff of a company under given events in the case study. 

Total word count: 718