Wednesday, 4 October 2023

Sick pay guarantee

Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:52): (475) My adjournment tonight is to the Minister for Employment, and it relates to the sick pay guarantee. The action I seek is that casual relief teachers are included in this scheme so they too can access sick pay when they take sick leave. My office has been contacted by a number of teachers who were very disappointed to hear that casual relief teachers have not been included in the second tranche of jobs covered by the guarantee. They were under the impression that they might be included in this round, and they were quite disheartened to hear that they were not. Just like all casual and contract staff, casual teachers have to face lost income when they are unwell, and given the nature of their work they are often exposed to illness and get sick as a consequence of their work. I have heard from a casual relief teacher who was only able to work six days in all of term 3 due to ill health and an injury. They are struggling to cover the costs of maintaining their home and utility bills, and they have had significant unexpected vet costs, so they are accessing food relief and relying on their dwindling savings to cover costs.

Another teacher has told me how they have worked in 19 primary schools this year and are constantly surrounded by a large number of sick kids. They caught the flu last term and they had to take a week off work. They said realistically they needed a second week off, but they could not afford to lose a second week of income and so instead pushed through and worked while exhausted and still recovering. Even taking the one week of sick leave meant $2000 in lost income – no income for that week, but rent was still due, bills still needed to be paid and groceries bought. The sick leave guarantee would have provided welcome relief during this time. Schools are known for spreading infection, with children still developing skills in hygiene. Sick casual relief teachers should not have to choose between staying home to recover and a day’s pay. Casual relief teachers should be eligible for the sick pay guarantee. There are of course some casual relief teachers who make the difficult decision to go to work for financial reasons when they probably should not. This can spread infections further and across schools. A sick pay guarantee would ensure that casual teachers did not have to make this decision. Minister, please expand the sick pay guarantee scheme to include casual relief teachers.