The Federal Government Is Unhappy About Victorian Casual Workers Getting Sick Leave

Christian Porter, the attorney-general and federal minister in charge of labour laws and regulation of workplaces, has denounced the Victorian government’s plans to introduce sick leave for casual workers saying it will be “a business and employment-killing” move.

Premier Daniel Andrews announced Victoria will be introducing up to five days of sick and carer’s leave for casual workers in ‘priority’ industries — those with high percentages of casual workers like hospitality, security, aged care workers, and supermarket workers — as “no one should have to choose between their health and feeding their family”.

The initiative will be piloted in late 2021 or early 2022, running over two years with government funding covering the cost. But if the scheme continues into the future, it would involve a levy on business.

We'll provide up to five days of sick and carer's pay for our most insecure workers. 

Because no one should have to choose between their health and feeding their family.

Not in this country. Not in this state.

— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) November 23, 2020

The link between the spread of COVID-19 and the problem of a large casualised workforce has been highlighted, especially in Victoria. The second wave saw a rapid spread of cases in aged care facilities where casual staff made up a significant proportion of the workforce. Insecure work, low wages, and unpaid sick leave, meant many workers who were sick continued to come to work. And some of the outbreaks were linked to staff who had to work across multiple facilities, leading to the virus being spread faster and faster throughout the sector.

In July, as the second wave was taking hold of Victoria, Andrews even pointed to “far too many people” going into work while displaying symptoms of COVID-19 as the spread’s “biggest driver”.

But casual workers had little choice in the matter. While casual workers make up more than 25 percent of Australia’s workforce, they are often stuck in low paid jobs, with no guarantee of hours of work, no entitlements, and no sick leave. Meanwhile the government left behind more than a million casual workers who did not qualify for JobKeeper due to eligibility requirements such as being with the same company for 12 months — a rarity given the nature of casual work.

Many young casual workers also pointed to the pressure and expectation by their bosses to put their health at risk and show up for work.

And so, staying home to do the right thing meant not getting paid, having to go onto the much lower JobSeeker payment if they lost their jobs, and ultimately not being able to support themselves and their dependents.

Of course Christian Porter would say that. Esp as he deflects from the fact that years of Fed Lib Govts have created a working poor in Australia, suppressed wages growth, ruined the bargaining system & allowed the overuse & abuse of precarious employment practices. #auspol https://t.co/wY2jsQtIAJ

— Sonja Terpstra 🐓 (@TerpsMLC) November 23, 2020

Porter is only interested in giving a break to those who don’t need it.

— Jo Wheaton (@WheatonsStore) November 23, 2020

The A-G along with the LNP could not give two sh1ts about workers, generally.

“Won’t somebody please think of the corporations?!”

— spudgun (@spudhowley) November 23, 2020

Porter has said of the scheme that it would end up being “a massive tax on Victorian businesses who would be forced to pay for both a 25 percent additional loading in wages to compensate for casuals not receiving sick leave and then having to pay for an industry levy to fund sick leave as well”.

“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. This is what has been under discussion in the industrial relations working group process between government and employee and employer representatives over recent months.”

While 25 percent loading is paid to casual workers because they don’t get benefits like sick or annual leave, the problem is many people experiencing insecure work face unpredictable and unpromised hours. During a pandemic where their hours may have already been cut, it is hard to make the choice to stay home when sick.

Evidently, this is something Porter does not have the ability to empathise with. As the pandemic was beginning to affect Australians at the beginning of the year, he thought “many people would have already made provisions for that because of course the purpose of casual employment is that you’re paid extra in-lieu of the types of entitlements”. This showed clearly how out of touch the minister was from the reality that many people on casual employment in these low-paying industries were living from paycheck to paycheck.

Remember when Christian Porter said the Coalition didn’t need to introduce a wage subsidy because workers in insecure jobs always save their casual loading to use during global pandemics … https://t.co/9TSSuiMEQk

— Stephen Jones MP (@StephenJonesMP) November 23, 2020

And though the prospect of being able to move from casual to permanent full or part-time employment has its merits and can fix many of these issues, many people opt for casual work due to its flexibility. Many university and high school students, single parents, and carers require flexibility due to their other commitments, and they should not be punished for this by being forced to choose between their health and their jobs.