An announcement that highlights an important issue for residential care and home care staff.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced that the state will offer a $1,500 payment to Victorians who have a confirmed case or are a close contact and who can’t rely on sick leave.
“This is about making sure there’s no financial reason for these people not to isolate and to go to work instead,” he said on Saturday.
“People are, sadly, making the choice that public health is less important than the welfare and survival, in a financial sense, of their family.”
“They’re wrong to make that judgement but I can appreciate that that is a judgement that is being made.”
The Premier added that businesses need to have a “zero-tolerance approach to sickness” and workers who can work from home must do so until the end of July, extending his previous ‘work from home’ mandate by another four weeks.
Victoria also recently introduced fines of $10,000 for businesses that required staff to come into the office when they can work from home.
But the Prime Minister Scott Morrison has rejected calls for a federal system of paid sick leave for people who have to isolate but don’t receive sick leave benefits.
“They’re matters for the state to take up. The commonwealth is doing its bit with over $250 billion of support that have been put in place into the economy,” he stated on Monday.
Many smaller operators we speak to say they have been unable to offer paid ‘pandemic leave’ to staff who have needed to self-isolate, forcing most to dip into their sick leave benefits.
Given the risk in aged care will continue until a treatment for vaccine for COVID-19 is found, that could leave many staff with a dangerous choice: stay home and miss out on pay or come to work and risk their residents and clients.
