January 25, 2021

Workplace Issues

Your penalty rates this Australia Day 2021

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In the lead up to Australia Day, nurses and midwives asked us to clarify what they’re entitled to. Pete from the Member Rights Centre at the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association has kindly collated this information to make sure you don’t miss out.

In New South Wales, the gazetted public holiday for Australia Day is 26 January 2021.

In the public health system, the entitlements for public holidays are set out in the Public Health System Nurses and Midwives’ (State) Award 2019 and depend upon your employment status and how you are rostered. The below table sets out a summary of the entitlements

In relation to those full time employees who do not work on a seven day basis, a day worker is a worker who works their ordinary hours from Monday to Friday inclusive and who commences work on such days at or after 6AM and before 10AM, otherwise than as part of the shift system. A shift worker is a worker who is not a day worker.In each case, the pay rates are in place of any shift penalties that would have otherwise been paid had the day not been a public holiday.

In relation to permanent part time employees the award provides at 29.PART I.(v) that when a public holiday occurs on a day of the week on which an employee regularly works, that employee shall be entitled to observe the public holiday without loss of pay. The employee’s roster must not be changed to avoid payment for the public holiday.

In the private system, public holiday entitlements will differ from employer to employer. To find the award or enterprise agreement that applies to you please click here.

If there’s an issue with your public holiday pay please notify your manager or payroll office in the first instance to discuss this issue. NSWNMA can assist you if you’re unable to resolve the problem with your employer.

Should you require advice about your public holiday entitlements please do not hesitate to contact our Information Team on 02 8595 1234 (Metro) or 1300 367 962 (Rural) or by emailing us at gensec@nswnma.asn.au.

Please note that the Association will be operating with minimum staffing from December 25 to January 4.

Have further questions? NSWNMA Members can contact the Association for support here. To find out more benefits of being a member or to join the NSWNMA, visit this page.

Blacktown Hospital fails to fix maternity crisis

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UPDATE: Since publishing, Blacktown Hospital has finally started advertising for the 15 FTE midwifery vacancies.

Frustrated by Blacktown Hospital management’s delays in following through on its commitments, the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association filed a dispute with the NSW Industrial Relations Commission last night.

The NSWNMA has been seeking genuine consultation to address the crisis in the maternity ward and for management to advertise the additional 15 full-time equivalent midwifery roles as they committed to do.

NSW Health Minister, Brad Hazzard, took steps to address the crisis by launching a thorough review in November. But in a meeting last week, Blacktown Hospital management could not provide a report to NSWNMA midwife representatives about the review and are acting as if the midwifery and obstetric issues are unrelated.

NSWNMA General Secretary, Brett Holmes, said Blacktown Hospital management is failing in its duty of care to staff and the community.

“The NSWNMA wants to participate in meaningful consultation to resolve the crisis,” Mr Holmes said. “But if Blacktown Hospital management won’t carry out its promise of more staff, the unreasonable workloads continue as does the threat to safe patient care.

“When Western Sydney LHD offered to add 15 extra midwives to the roster, we welcomed the move as a step in the right direction. Despite our concerns it will not be enough to address the very high workloads our members currently face.

“The LHD committed to advertising the roles in the week beginning November 30. It’s almost Christmas and still they have not placed an ad for the additional positions.

“Now we are hearing of delays to promised reviews, positions not being backfilled, and excessive overtime.

“Our members at Blacktown Hospital know how critical this situation is and their actions have proved that.

“In order to protect patient safety and in fear that their professional registrations are at risk, nurses and midwives have taken all reasonable steps possible.

“It’s time the Minister intervened again to ensure that this crisis is dealt with and resolved quickly. It shouldn’t be up to midwives to go to the courts to hold their management to account.

“Nurses and midwives at Blacktown deserve better and the Blacktown community deserves better.”

Working From Home When Home Isn’t Safe

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On the International Day for the Prevention of Violence Against Women, unions launched a new workplace resource, Working From Home When Home Isn’t Safe: Responding to Family and Domestic Violence in Homebased Workplaces.

As well as changing how many people work, COVID-19 has led to increased physical isolation, financial stress, higher levels of unemployment, under employment, increased workload with no extra pay, increased alcohol and drug use and an increase in domestic and family violence.

The cultural shift to working from home has not reduced the importance of work health and safety (WHS) principles and obligations. Under WHS laws, employers have a duty to ensure the health and safety of workers, minimize risks and consult with workers when workers are working from home. The vital role of workplaces in preventing and responding to family and domestic violence is just as important when workers are working from home. Domestic violence remains a workplace issue.

Working From Home When Home Isn’t Safe: Responding to Family and Domestic Violence in Homebased Workplaces is an initiative of Australian Services Union NSW & ACT (Services) Branch and Unions NSW in conjunction with Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia.

The guide provides practical strategies and resources to enable the appropriate steps and strategies are implemented to ensure moving employees to working from home does not place them at an increased risk of family violence in what is now their workplace, detailing how to:

  • Identify warning signs and cues that colleagues working from home may be at risk;
  • Support your colleagues experiencing family-based violence;
  • Have your employer develop an organisational response;
  • Find services to provide support;
  • Enroll in training with Rape and Domestic Violence Australia.

An electronic copy can be downloaded here.

Rampant understaffing at Campbelltown Hospital draws ire of NSW Parliament 

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Rampant understaffing and an excessive number of vacancies at Campbelltown Hospital have drawn condemnation from a multi-partisan parliamentary committee. 

A recent report by the Legislative Council Health Committee on the state of healthcare in south-western Sydney singled out the shortcomings of Campbelltown Hospital in addressing unacceptable staffing shortages relating to nursing and midwifery. 

The Committee recommended that vacancies in emergency, midwifery and the adolescent mental health unit be “immediately filled” by management.  

Campbelltown was the only hospital to be named for needing to fill vacant nursing and midwifery positions. However, the committee also made recommendations around service provision and infrastructure in relation to the other hospitals in the region. 

The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association provided a submission to the Committee in regards to matters of staffing, resourcing and the provision of health services. Many of the Inquiry’s findings mirror the Association’s submissions.  

NSWNMA recognised for going “above and beyond” in workplace safety

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The Association wins SafeWork award for supporting members on the COVID-19 frontline.

The NSWNMA has received the top union award in the 2020 SafeWork NSW Awards for “outstanding work health and safety support to members in the changed working environment due to COVID-19”.

Emma Hogan, Secretary, Department of Customer Services, which hosted the awards, said this was an occasion to “celebrate those workplaces that have gone above and beyond in what has been one of the most challenging years”.

The coronavirus had demanded “forward thinking and rapid innovation” of organisations when practising work health and safety, she said.

NSWNMA General Secretary, Brett Holmes, said the Association appreciated the recognition for our efforts to ensure NSWNMA members across the public, private and aged care sectors were kept up to date as the COVID-19 situation evolved rapidly.

“When the biggest global health pandemic in 100 years is hurtling towards you, you have a duty to your members to ensure they have exactly what they need to be safe in the workplace, but to also maintain the safe care of their patients and residents,” he said.

“We recognised early that access to personal protective equipment (PPE) was a big problem, not just in the public hospital system, but also in the private sector and aged care, so we were quick to open channels of communication and get issues resolved as promptly as possible.

“The issue of fit-testing P2 and N95 masks worn by our members was another major concern and we’ve achieved improvement, with almost all Local Health Districts committing to fit-testing programs in their public hospitals. The increased fit-testing of clinical staff will go beyond COVID-19, improving respiratory protection for nurses long after the virus disappears.”

Assistant General Secretary, Judith Kiejda, said the award 
showed the union’s commitment to support members, “so nurses and midwives can continue their selfless work”.

“Access to leave was an issue we were determined to tackle quickly. We wanted to ensure the health and wellbeing of our members was properly considered, given the unknown territory they were working in responding to COVID-19,” she said.

“Thousands of nurses and midwives were forced to respond rapidly and absorb new workplace policies at short notice. They have lived, breathed, and continue to work through the pandemic response till today.”

COVID calls for clear communication and organisational agility

COVID has emphasised the need for foresight, the highest levels of protection for health staff and patients, and the importance of local capacity to produce PPE.

Veronica Black, the NSWNMA’s health and safety officer, told the online audience at the SafeWork awards that education was the key to our COVID-19 efforts.

Communication had been important to meet members’ needs, she said.

Expanded online resources on the member portal and The Lamp online delivered FAQs, WHS and workforce updates. Facebook videos and live Q&As also addressed WHS issues.

Sector-specific emails and PPE webinars and educational resources were used to give COVID advice and to educate members around the correct use of protective equipment.

The COVID crisis also required a level of organisational agility and an openness to collaborate, Veronica said.

“We extended our hours of operation and set up WhatsApp groups.

“We sought advice from the highest levels – not only governments but also the Centre for Disease Control in the United States and the World Health Organization.

“We sought advice from other unions – anyone and everyone – to make sure we were as up to date on the information as we possibly could be.

“Some of the things we are proud of are that there has been an increase in PPE availability, substandard PPE has been removed from workplaces and we’re now seeing the start of fit-testing for all nurses wearing P2 or N95 masks at work,” she said.

Veronica also pointed out how COVID had highlighted the importance of local capacity to manufacture PPE.

FYI: Your penalty rates over Christmas and New Year!

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With a number of public holidays over the Festive Season, nurses and midwives asked us to clarify what they’re entitled to. Ben from the Member Rights Centre at the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association has kindly collated this information to make sure you don’t miss out.

In New South Wales, the gazetted public holidays for the festive season are:

  • Christmas Day (25 Dec),
  • Boxing Day (26 Dec),
  • Additional Boxing Day Public Holiday (28 Dec), and
  • New Year’s Day (1 Jan).

In the public health system, the entitlements for public holidays are set out in the Public Health System Nurses and Midwives’ (State) Award 2019 and depend upon your employment status and how you are rostered. The below table sets out a summary of the entitlements

In relation to those full time employees who do not work on a seven day basis, a day worker is a worker who works their ordinary hours from Monday to Friday inclusive and who commences work on such days at or after 6AM and before 10AM, otherwise than as part of the shift system. A shift worker is a worker who is not a day worker.In each case, the pay rates are in place of any shift penalties that would have otherwise been paid had the day not been a public holiday.

In relation to permanent part time employees the award provides at 29.PART I.(v) that when a public holiday occurs on a day of the week on which an employee regularly works, that employee shall be entitled to observe the public holiday without loss of pay. The employee’s roster must not be changed to avoid payment for the public holiday.

In the private system, public holiday entitlements will differ from employer to employer. To find the award or enterprise agreement that applies to you please click here.

If there’s an issue with your public holiday pay please notify your manager or payroll office in the first instance to discuss this issue. NSWNMA can assist you if you’re unable to resolve the problem with your employer.

Should you require advice about your public holiday entitlements please do not hesitate to contact our Information Team on 02 8595 1234 (Metro) or 1300 367 962 (Rural) or by emailing us at gensec@nswnma.asn.au

Please note that the Association will be operating with minimum staffing from December 25 to January 4.

Have further questions? NSWNMA Members can contact the Association for support here. To find out more benefits of being a member or to join the NSWNMA, visit this page.