Canberra business community reacts to plan to expand portable long service leave
Workers have praised a plan to expand ACT’s portable long service leave scheme, while business groups are raising the alarm. Have your say in our poll.
Canberra Star
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Workers have praised a plan to expand portable service leave, but members of Canberra’s business community are raising alarm bells, saying the bill could have costly ramifications.
Portable long service leave allows workers to retain leave from previous workplaces when they move to a different employer.
Under the current scheme, the leave is available for ACT workers in the community services, construction, cleaning and security industries.
A bill tabled by industrial relations and workplace safety Minister Mick Gentleman aims to expand the scheme to hairdressers, barbers, beauticians, accommodation workers, and food service workers -including caters and cafe workers.
Barber Nick Dunham said he supported the scheme.
“We tend to jump around – with this industry, you can travel a lot,” he said.
“I think it’s really good that you can go from one place to another and still have your long service leave.”
However, Mr Dunham said he was “not 100 per cent sure” the scheme would benefit him down the track.
Mr Gentleman said the scheme’s expansion would help workers in casual or short-term jobs who are at a “serious disadvantage” in accruing entitlements and leave.
“Unstable employment arrangements are associated with poorer mental health and shorter life expectancies,” he said.
“Portable long service leave allows workers to accrue paid long service leave that they can access, even if they change employer, so long as they remain employed within their covered industry.
“Expanding portable long service schemes is a progressive approach to protecting the rights of our more mobile workers and helping future-proof industries that may struggle to attract and retain staff.”
In its current form, the bill suggests waiting two years to implement the scheme to allow employers to prepare for the change.
Barista Taliesin Morgan has worked in hospitality since he was 16, transitioning into full-time cafe work after finishing his studies.
He said the scheme would “probably be beneficial” to workers, particularly those working in hospitality long term.
“Getting leave in hospitality is quite difficult. Often, if you leave a job for a long time, you’ll get replaced,” he said.
“You don’t get a chance to use your leave in a lot of jobs.”
Yet Mr Morgan said the scheme would only affect a minority of long-term hospitality workers.
“I don’t think many people stay in hospitality jobs for ten or so years,” he said.
“(The scheme) would only impact a few people, but for those people, it might be really good for them — because they may have families but often don’t have leave.”
Canberra Business Chamber CEO Graham Catt slammed the bill, and said the government needed to support local businesses, not increase costs.
“This simply isn’t the time to introduce these new rules,” he said
“There is a direct cashflow impact on employers, as well as added administrative costs that will reduce the actual profitability of businesses.
“There has already been significant wage growth in the industries proposed for expansion, along with rapidly rising supply costs and interest rates.”
Mr Catt said the government’s consultation paper only provided “vague and general” examples of the pros and cons of the scheme.
“There is no evidence or proper analysis anywhere in the consultation paper to demonstrate a benefit to employers or the economy, or exactly what benefits will flow to employees,” he said.
“Any expansion of portable long service leave needs to be accompanied by parallel regulatory changes to ensure that there will a net-neutral financial impact on employers.
“The ACT Government needs real actuarial analysis to understand the financial and administrative costs to employers of this proposal.”
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