Coronavirus: ‘Fully fund pandemic leave or aged-care staff supply will dwindle’

Staff providers join unions in demanding the Morrison government fully fund paid pandemic leave for aged-care workers.

Recruitment, Consulting and Staffing Association chief executive Charles Cameron.

Aged-care staff providers have joined unions in calling for the Morrison government to fully fund paid pandemic leave, warning a Fair Work ruling granting the entitlement “seriously threatened” the supply of staff to Victorian facilities already facing shortages.

Recruitment, Consulting and Staffing Association chief executive Charles Cameron said the paid leave was “unviable” for nursing agencies and they would have to stop supplying staff unless there was a commitment from facilities or the government to meet the “unfunded liability”. Due to the demands on the Victorian system, Mr Cameron said agencies were already experiencing significant shortages and looking at bringing in workers from interstate.

A commission full bench backed paid pandemic leave for full-time and part-time workers in residential aged-care facilities but said only casuals employed on a “regular and systematic basis” should get up to two weeks’ paid leave if required to self-isolate.

The ACTU wants the government to fund pandemic leave for casuals working irregular shifts.

Mr Cameron said its members’ agencies, which employ nurses and carers, could not afford to pay for weeks and weeks of pandemic leave if not being paid by clients.

“Unless aged-care facilities or the government are willing to pay the cost of this shortsighted ruling by the Fair Work Commission, I fear the supply of care in the aged-care sector could be seriously threatened at a crucial time,” he said.

Under recently announced federal assistance, aged-care providers in declared “hotspots” can apply for grants to support workers unable to work due to symptoms, self-isolation or travel restrictions. But Mr Cameron said his members were concerned there would still be a funding shortfall and it would “make sense” for the government to ­address the uncertainty by committing to fully funding pandemic leave.

A spokesman for Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said the government would consider the commission decision in detail ­“before responding further, noting the support measures already in place and announced”.

“Aged-care providers were updated on Saturday via a statement from the Health Department (followed by a meeting on Sunday), with a clear commitment by the commonwealth on how it would support workers relating to working at only one facility,” he said.

“Draft guidelines were ­released to industry last night with the expectation of finalisation by the end of the week.”

About 10 per cent of 153,000 workers involved in direct care are casuals, although the commission did not state how many were on ­irregular shifts. The ACTU said it was not clear to unions why casuals not employed on a regular and systematic basis should miss out on the paid entitlement, given its identified purpose.

But the full bench said it did not consider the paid leave “can be justified in relation to employees who have no established connection to the relevant workplace, and we presume such employees will simply not be re-engaged if ­required to self-isolate”. “We do not intend to place any minimum time period requirement on the ‘regular and systematic basis’ criterion, and this criterion will not require a consistent pattern of engagement in the number of days worked each week, the days of the week worked or the duration of each shift,” it said.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said on Tuesday that paid pandemic leave should be available to all workers.