Coronavirus: Extra leave bid for frontline staff

Fair Work president Iain Ross will consider an ACTU bid to give thousands of frontline workers a new entitlement to paid pandemic leave.

Fair Work Commission president Iain Ross. Picture: Gary Ramage

Fair Work Commission president Iain Ross will consider an ACTU bid to give thousands of frontline health, aged care, pharmacy and disability sector workers a new entitlement to paid pandemic leave on multiple occasions during the coronavirus crisis.

A commission full bench, headed by Justice Ross, announced on Wednesday that it would examine extending a new award entitlement of two weeks’ unpaid pandemic leave to a paid condition that could be taken multiple times by workers with higher exposure to COVID-19 in coming months.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions is seeking to have the paid pandemic leave clause inserted into eight awards covering workers across the health, aged-care and social and community services sectors, including disability support, as well as pharmacy workers.

It said the workers were required to personally attend to the needs of people with COVID-19 or those at high risk of contracting the virus, or they worked in sectors such as aged care or disability services where the risk of exposure to COVID-19 was elevated.

“We anticipate that such employees would have a much greater likelihood of being required to self-isolate on more than one occasion,” it said. “It is our strong view that workers in those industries should be entitled to paid leave on multiple occasions.”

ACTU president Michele O’Neil said the union movement believed these workers urgently needed paid pandemic leave on multiple occasions due to the critical role they played in protecting public health in the pandemic.

“These workers are at the very frontline of protecting everyone and we know that they are at greater risk, so we need to put in place greater protections for both their health and for the public’s health,” she said.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation said the experience across the world was that frontline healthcare workers were contracting the COVID-19 virus due to high levels of exposure. The ANMF said evidence indicated healthcare workers were being infected at higher rates than the general public, and were experiencing more serious symptoms.

“As the pandemic progresses in the coming months, it will be essential that healthcare workers are available to treat patients infected with COVID-19,” it said.

“Periods of self-isolation to minimise the spread of infection for frontline healthcare workers will be an ongoing necessity to ensure the workforce remains healthy. Prevention of spread of the virus must be a forefront consideration.”

The ANMF said staff in emergency departments, cancer wards, aged care and disability services were caring for vulnerable people. If exposed to COVID-19, they would be required to self-isolate to minimise the risk of infection in vulnerable groups.

The Health Services Union said due to the nature of their work and workplaces, these workers were “more likely to be exposed to the virus, and exposed multiple times, compared to employees in the general population”.

“It is in the public interest to promote adequate leave for health, aged care and SACS workers to ensure retention of staff in the healthcare workforce as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continue to rise and the workforce demand surges.”

The full bench said it would shortly convene a conference that would establish a separate process to address the issues raised by the unions.