Coronavirus: Extended pandemic leave on the cards, says Christian Porter
The federal government will examine giving more workers access to paid pandemic leave, pledging to work with unions and employers.
The federal government will examine giving more workers access to paid pandemic leave, pledging to work with unions and employers to try to combat the workplace transmission of COVID-19.
After a campaign by unions for workers to receive up to two weeks of paid leave if required to self-isolate, Attorney-General Christian Porter said the government would be “working with the ACTU” to identify evidence where workers with symptoms could be contributing to the spread of cases because they felt they could not afford to be absent from work.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus, who has been in ongoing talks with Mr Porter during the pandemic, welcomed his comments, and said paid pandemic leave would save lives and jobs.
The apparent movement by Mr Porter comes as the government seeks union agreement to extending emergency industrial relations changes to employers coming off the JobKeeper scheme in September.
The government has signalled that it is considering a lower revenue-loss threshold employers no longer on the subsidy would need to meet before they could access the industrial relations exemptions, allowing them to cut employee hours and change their duties.
The government needs to pass legislation extending JobKeeper and the industrial relations exemptions when parliament resumes sitting for a fortnight from August 24.
The Fair Work Commission awarded workers in residential aged-care facilities access to paid pandemic leave for three months, but denied access to casuals not working on a regular and systematic basis.
The commission said there was a real risk that aged-care employees who did not have access to the leave might not report COVID-19 symptoms but go to work out of financial need.
“This represents a significant risk to infection-control measures,” it said. “These matters weigh significantly in favour of the introduction of a paid pandemic leave entitlement.”
Mr Porter said the government was continuing to consult closely with stakeholders.
Ms McManus said paid pandemic leave for all workers was “essential to defend our country against the spread of the virus”.
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