Aged care workers employed under three awards will be entitled to two weeks' paid leave if they are required to self-isolate due to having coronavirus symptoms or being a close contact of a confirmed case, following a ruling from the Fair Work Commission.
Key points:
- The Fair Work Commission ruled the paid leave was necessary nationwide due to recent events demonstrating "how rapidly circumstances can change"
- The ruling follows submissions from the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Health Services Union and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation calling for paid pandemic leave to apply for all staff in aged care across the country until the end of September
- Only casual employees who can have been employed on a "regular and systemic basis" will be entitled to the paid leave
The commission's ruling grants paid pandemic leave to staff working in residential aged care under the Aged Care Award, the Nurses Award and the Health Professionals Award.
The amendments will come into effect from Wednesday, July 29, and last for three months.
Conditions attached to the paid leave include:
- Workers must be aged 17 or older and be likely to have worked during the self-isolation period
- Cannot be receiving any income — including other leave or JobKeeper — during their time in quarantine
- If workers test positive to the virus they will be provided with workers compensation leave, which will supersede the pandemic leave
- If the direction to self-isolate comes from a doctor, and not come the Government or employer, the worker must provide a medical certificate
The entitlement extends to casual employees "engaged on a regular and systemic basis" and the payment would be based on their average earnings over the past six weeks.
The ruling comes after the commission's April decision to grant paid pandemic leave to other sectors working under 99 different awards.
At the time, unions had argued the entitlements should be extended to aged care and healthcare workers.
The push was rejected in April, but as hundreds of healthcare and aged care workers in Victoria contracted the virus in recent weeks, the FWC gave the matter ''urgent'' consideration.
In its ruling, the FWC stated "it cannot be assumed that the current outbreak will remain confined to Victoria".
"Recent developments in New South Wales are not encouraging. The award of the entitlement remains necessary notwithstanding that the current locus of the pandemic is in Victoria."
Low-paid staff likely to go to work sick due to 'financial difficulty'
The commission found self-isolation was "especially critical" in aged care "because of the vulnerability of aged persons to COVID-19 fatalities".
The ruling found while although self-isolating was "said to be in the public interest," low-paid employees were likely to be placed in "significant financial difficulty and even distress".
"This represents a significant risk to infection control measures. These matters weigh significantly in favour of the introduction of a paid pandemic leave entitlement."
To be eligible for the pandemic leave, workers will need to have exhausted all their paid personal leave.
If workers test positive for the virus, they become eligible for workers' compensation benefits, which will supersede the pandemic leave.
"It will be a condition of receipt of the leave entitlement that the relevant employee has agreed to undertake a COVID-19 test at the earliest opportunity," the commission said.
If the direction to self-isolate comes from a medical practitioner, not the government or the employer, the employee must provide a medical certificate.
Monday's ruling follows submissions from the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Health Services Union and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation calling for paid pandemic leave to apply for all staff in aged care across the country until the end of September.
The unions had said while the Victorian Government's $1500 and $300 Coronavirus Workers support payments were helping, they were not available to people receiving other government benefits, which applied to about 16 per cent of aged care workers.
Of Victoria's 4,542 active cases as of Monday, 683 have been linked to outbreaks across 61 aged care facilities, and there are 400 active cases among health workers.
Leading Age Services Australia manager Tim Hicks said it was "critical" aged care providers were supported financially by governments to be able to afford the payments.
"Providers have already invested millions in preventative measures against COVID-19 and the latest independent report shows that 60 per cent of residential care homes reported an operating loss this financial year, even before the pandemic struck."
Health Workers Union national secretary Lloyd Williams said the decision was welcome and "very importantly addressed the aged care sector".
"But we have said right from the start all essential workers must be supported to stay home," Mr Williams said.
Mr Williams said there was more to be done and called for the entitlements to be extended to other vulnerable sectors like disability care.
"We have seen cases in group disability homes, but not of late which we are thankful for," he said.
Mr Williams said the current hardship payments provided by the Victorian Government was "useful" but the commission's ruling took the eligibility requirements out of it.
The State Government's coronavirus workforce payments are only available to workers once, and they must not be receiving any other subsidies by the state or federal governments, cutting off about 16 per cent of aged care workers.
Workers under enterprise agreements will not be covered by the ruling but Mr Williams says he will be calling on employers to extend the entitlements to all staff.
ACTU national secretary Sally McManus also said it was a welcome decision but criticised the ruling for not covering all casual workers.
The ruling said employees "who have no established connection to the relevant workplace" are not covered.
"This still does not remove the trap door for casual workers with irregular hours," she said.
Federal Government to fund aged care staff sick leave
The ruling came after the Federal Government announced it would cover the costs of aged care providers paying casual staff sick leave entitlements and reimburse providers if they need to provide additional shifts to staff so they remain in one location.
A spokesperson from the Department of Health said staff and providers would be "encouraged to enter agreements" in which staff would work only in the location where they do the most shifts.
Such agreements would be "voluntary".
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