Casual workers to be guaranteed five days’ sick leave

The Andrews Government’s plan to pay sick leave to casual workers has been labelled a “business and employment-killing approach”.

Casual and insecure workers would be guaranteed five days of sick leave or carer’s pay under a new two-year trial to be rolled out by the state government.

Premier Daniel Andrews on Monday announced $5 million for a pilot scheme that would target Victorians working in areas such as security, cleaning, hospitality, aged care and supermarkets.

It comes after essential and insecure workers became one of the biggest challenges health authorities faced during Victoria’s second wave, with positive infections in these sectors attending multiple work sites or attending work while symptomatic.

The $5 million program will be trialled over two years after a consultation process.

Mr Andrews said it was possible a full version program could be funded with assistance from a levy if found to be successful.

“Insecure work is toxic,” he said. “When people have nothing to fall back on, they make a choice between the safety of their workmates and feeding their family.

“The ultimate decision they make isn’t wrong – what’s wrong is they’re forced to make it at all.”

“This isn’t going to solve the problem of insecure work overnight but someone has to put their hand up and say we’re going to take this out of the too-hard basket and do something about it – and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

But the move has been slammed by Attorney-General Christian Porter, who said the Victorian Government was pushing a “business and employment-killing approach” to workplace reform.

The Morrison government cabinet minister said the sick leave scheme would function as a double tax for Victorian businesses who would still pay loading to casual workers.

“After Victorian businesses have been through their hardest year in the last century, why on earth would you be starting a policy that promises to finish with another big tax on business at precisely the time they can least afford any more economic hits?” Mr Porter said.

Premier Daniel Andrews says the government will guarantee sick leave for insecure workers. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Geraghty

“The better policy approach is to strengthen the ability of workers to choose to move from casual to permanent full or part-time employment if that is what they want to do. “

Mr Porter said reform work was being undertaken as part of the industrial relations working groups announced earlier this year.

“It must surely be a better approach to let people have greater choice between casual and permanent employment than forcing businesses to pay a tax so that someone can be both a casual employee and get more wages as compensation for not getting sick leave - but then also tax the business to pay for getting sick leave as well,” Mr Porter said.

“That would be a business and employment-killing approach.”

State treasurer Tim Pallas said workers staying on the job while sick was “bad for business”.

“We believe this scheme will benefit businesses and workers right across Victoria.”

But the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia’s chief executive officer Peter Strong said paying casual workers sick leave would be a burden to business.

“Most people who are casual workers want to be casual, they end up having two or three jobs,” he said.

“If you’re going to bring in leave on top of casual pay, then the message to people is to become a casual.

“When you are a casual, you get loading which covers your sick and recreation leave, that’s why you get an extra 25 per cent in your pay.

“But if you are a permanent part-timer, you would not get this extra leave.”

Mr Strong said the measure would defeat the purpose of having casual staff and if the trial was successful businesses would be forced to foot the bill.

“Bizarrely, the reason you need a casual worker is because you need a worker when someone else is sick,” he said.

“So you might ring up that casual worker who is coming to work but then they are sick, now the employer has to find another casual worker to cover the worker who is sick.”