Community Visitors play a critical role in protecting the rights and interest of vulnerable adults and children in our community. Your union office has written to the Public Guardian Shayna Smith on behalf of Together members who are CVs in the Office of the Public Guardian seeking for administrative application of special pandemic leave for long term casuals. Many community visitor members are very experienced long term casuals however as non-public service employees they aren’t entitled to the special pandemic leave covered in the Employment Arrangements in the Event of the Health Pandemic Directive. With the high levels of community transmission in our community, it’s more likely that community visitors and their families may get COVID-19 and lose income as a result. The Employment Arrangements in the Event of a Health Pandemic Directive allows for long term casual employees who have been engaged on a regular and systematic basis for at least a year to access 20 days special pandemic leave if the casual employee is unable to attend work because they have COVID-19, are required to care for family or household members with actual or suspected illness or are required to care for their children as a result of school/childcare closures. It’s important that workers can take the time to recover from COVID-19 and care for their sick family members without the added stress of worrying about their income. That’s why Together members are fighting hard to ensure long term casuals can access paid pandemic leave. Stay tuned for more updates and make sure you check out the rest of the Safer Together campaign site to keep updated with how union members are helping building a safer public service.
