Staff working in residential aged care under the Aged Care Award, the Nurses Award and the Health Professionals Award will be entitled to the paid pandemic leave, following a ruling by the Fair Work Commission.
Staff will be entitled to two weeks’ paid pandemic leave if they are required to self isolate due to being a close contact of a confirmed case, or if they are showing symptoms of COVID-19.
The entitlement will be paid for up to two weeks, and will extend to casual employees who are employed on a “regular and systemic” basis.
The payments will be based on the worker’s average earnings over the previous six weeks.
Workers who continue to work through self isolation or who receive JobKeeper will not be entitled to pandemic leave payments.
Workers who test positive to COVID-19 during their self-isolation will not be entitled to pandemic leave pay, but they will be entitled to workers compensation leave.
Workers directed to self isolate by their doctors must provide a medical certificate.
The ruling will come into effect on 29 July and will be in place for three months.
The Victorian government’s $1,500 hardship payments are also available to those who self isolate, but they are not available to those receiving other government benefits, ruling out approximately 16 per cent of aged care workers.
Leading Age Services Australia CEO, Tim Hicks, told HelloCare that LASA supports the pandemic leave but will be approaching the government to seek further support for aged care providers who will be liable for the payments.
For cash-strapped aged care providers, pandemic leave will be “another blow they’re going to have to find some way of coping with,” he said.
“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.”
Mr Hicks said the burden of paying pandemic leave will fall disproportionately to small aged care providers as they tend to have a higher percentage of workers on awards.
Larger aged care providers more often employee staff on enterprise agreements, meaning those staff will not be entitled to the pandemic leave payments.
Mr Hicks said he would like pandemic leave to be made available nationally. “It is crucial that no staff or providers are disadvantaged during these challenging times,” he said.
The Fair Work Commission said pandemic leave will support the needs of low-paid workers who are exposed to elevated levels of risk during COVID-19.
They said it is in the “public interest” for aged care employees to self isolate, but they have had to bear the financial cost of self isolating themselves.
“An employee required to self-isolate may not have access to paid personal leave because, in the case of full-time and part-time employees, they may not be unfit for work such as to qualify for such leave or may have exhausted their leave entitlement or, in the case of casual employees, they do not have an entitlement to such leave,” they wrote in their findings.
Image: Michael Amadeus, unsplash.
Just another rort. If employees didn’t abuse their sick leave entitlements and use them as a additional two weeks paid holiday leave. Employees would have sick leave available for emergencies like this.
Casual employees are paid 25% more in wages to compensate that they don’t have sick leave entitlements.
Yes they don’t have sick leave entitlements but they are PAID MORE.
The fake news the unions are pumping out at the moment is a disgrace, aged care workers in Australia are paid a fair and reasonable wage for the work they do. Their wage is based on their recognised training and skill level. If they want a higher level of pay get the training and become a RN.
The entire nation abuses the sick leave entitlements scheme, its part of the so called Aussie culture to take a sickie!! But now when they need those paid sick days they are whinging they don”t have any left. Due to the simple fact they have abused the system and used their sick leave entitlements as paid holiday leave.
Aged care homes are NOT hospitals they are the homes of aged people.
If a aged person outside of a aged care facility was to become ill with covid they are admitted to hospital.
If you come from a aged care home you are told to stay at the aged care home.
Every Australian has the right to hospital care.
This is the real scandal.
The fact that older Australians who have paid the taxes all their lives for these hospitals are now being turned away when they need them most.
WHERE are the unions when it comes for fighting for the aged care residents rights to go to hospital.
NO WHERE to be seen.
Unions you should be ashamed of how you are using the lives of the aged for your cash grab.
I work in aged care I am a member of the union.
Or I was until the unions showed what they really stand for, this disgraceful greed driven cash grab.
I have quit the union today.