Australian workers, no matter if they are full time, part time or casual, should be given two weeks paid leave if they are forced to self-isolate as a result of coronavirus or take time off due to business downturn, according to the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
Larger businesses are already flagging staff reductions in work hours or a push for workers to take leave. Some have encouraged staff to conduct meetings via teleconferencing where possible, and to stay home if they feel unwell.
According to Fair Work Australia, full and part-time staff members who are sick with coronavirus are entitled to take paid sick leave or paid carer’s leave for a sick family member. Casual employees are not entitled to paid leave but can take two days of unpaid carer’s leave.
If an employee is stuck overseas or needs to be quarantined, Fair Work advises there are no rules for this situation, so it is up to employees and employers to negotiate between themselves.
The industrial relations minister, Christian Porter, said on Tuesday there needed to be “commonsense goodwill and adaptability” between employers and employees negotiating over quarantine time off.
If a full or part-time employee wants to stay home of their own volition, it’s up to them to take leave or negotiate to work from home, according to Fair Work Australia. But employees are ordinarily entitled to be paid if they are staying home at the direction of their employer.
The ACTU secretary, Sally McManus, said there should be no financial penalty for any workers having to isolate themselves or take time off, and called for the government to underwrite the paid leave guarantee for all workers, including the one in three she said who have no paid leave.
“All workers need assurance that they will get through the pandemic without losing out on their entitlements. The Morrison government needs to urgently legislate to create these provisions for all workers,” McManus said.
“If the government underwrites two weeks of paid leave for all workers who are under threat from the economic impacts of Covid-19 that will stimulate the economy and help alleviate the impact on working Australians.”
In a speech to the AFR business summit on Tuesday, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, called on Australian businesses to keep staff on as an act of patriotism amid economic uncertainty as a result of the coronavirus.
“Hold onto your people, because you will need them on the bounce back on the other side,” he said. “Wherever possible, support them – full time, part time, casual, including with paid leave if they need to take time off during the course of the virus.”
Australian airline Qantas announced on Tuesday that in addition to the CEO taking no pay for the rest of the year, and board and management taking a 30% cut in fees and pay, all Qantas and Jetstar employees have been asked to take paid or unpaid leave. The company is reducing its flying capacity by a quarter for the next six months.
At Commonwealth Bank, staff can work from home if they need to self-isolate, a spokeswoman said.
“More widely, we’ve had voluntary work-from-home practices and are supporting employees with children who may need to stay home given the school closures,” she said.
There’s currently no change to branch operating hours, but the spokeswoman said it would depend on the impact in different parts of the country.
Australia’s largest telecommunications company, Telstra, already gives 90% of its staff the option to work from home, and is reviewing the situation for those who need to be at work.
The company has also restricted non-essential international business travel until 27 March, and has required those returning from high-risk areas to self-isolate for 14 days on their return home.
Flight Centre has reportedly asked staff to take one day of paid leave a week or fortnight to account for the downturn in bookings.
The Business Council of Australia president, Tim Reed, told the ABC on Tuesday businesses were already doing everything they could to support customers and employees, but would not say what businesses should do for employees in cases where those employees have to self-quarantine.
“I think wherever businesses can, they should continue to support their employees who have supported them through their business growth through that period of that time,” he said.
Reed called on the federal government to allow people to receive Newstart without the deferral period for casual employees who lose their job over the next few months, and for full and part-time staff, sick leave was there for them to use.
“I think if there is sick leave that’s why sick leave is there. Sick leave is a statutory entitlement for when people aren’t well so they can continue to be paid and so absolutely I think that’s an appropriate use of sick leave.”
The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia CEO, Peter Strong, told Guardian Australia small businesses had begun talking to staff about what could happen in the event of a market slowdown, or wider impact of coronavirus.
“I know a lot of them are talking to staff … they’re not running away from their own responsibilities but we are all in this together,” he said.
Strong said not much consideration had been given to what would happen if small business owners contracted Covid-19 or needed to self-isolate.
“I haven’t seen anything yet that has told me anyone is considering what happens if the employer is isolated or gets crook. I’m really concerned about that,” he said.
Strong backed calls for immediate access to Newstart for employees without leave, but also said the government should consider giving training vouchers to employers to give staff skills training while they were out of work during any shutdown period.
“A training wage is less than the minimum wage, but it’s still better than Newstart,” he said.
The federal government is preparing to announce a stimulus response to the coronavirus on Thursday, including options for employees put out of work over the next few months.
Porter told the ABC on Tuesday afternoon that putting people in casual employment on Newstart while they are quarantined at home was one of a “variety of options” the government was considering.
Porter also suggested people paid on a casual basis would have “made provisions” for taking leave without pay because they are paid extra in lieu of those entitlements, but said if large sectors of industries with a casual workforce were hit, then the government would consider a response through welfare.
