How valuable is your time? Are you an employee who has been required to be called back to work and are not receiving the On Call Allowance? If so the Employers Association (LGNSW) appear to have decided that your time is not as valuable as it once was.
Where an employer would be obliged to pay the employee who is called out to work out of hours and the employee is not receiving the on call allowance the employee is currently entitled to be paid for a minimum of four (4) hours work at the appropriate overtime rate for each time so recalled.
The LGNSW log of claims for the 2020 NSW Local Government State Award seems to indicate that the Employer’s Association believes that the current award is too generous and have decided that it is time to attack this condition by seeking to reduce the current entitlement from a minimum of four (4) hours to three (3).
What they haven’t given thought or may have no regard for is the disruption on the employee’s personal life and family time that Call Backs impose on the employee. It has long been recognised within Local Government that it is fair and reasonable to provide proper financial compensation for the inconvenience that is placed on an employee to return to the workplace at the employer’s bequest without prior arrangement.
This has always been considered to be a benefit to both parties and recognised as such.
How has Call back to been recognised as per the current Award.
“Any employee who is called back to work as defines in subclause shall be paid for a minimum of four hours work at the appropriate overtime rate for each time so recalled.”
What’s proposed on the Employers’ Associations Log of Claims in their claim number 11.
Subclause 19D (ii) (Call Back / $hr minimum engagement period) – Amend subclause 19D(ii) by deleting the “four” hour minimum engagement period for a call back and replacing it with a “three” hour minimum engagement period.
What does this mean?
It would appear that the Employer’s Association believes that your personal time is considered to have less value than it once had, so the Employer’s Association, in making their claim, believes it to be appropriate to interrupt your personal life for a reduced rate of 3 hours minimum overtime payment rather than the 4 hours that you are currently entitled to.
Is this fair and reasonable? We don’t think so. It’s just another attack on your current award rights. Such attacks if they remain unchallenged would see the reduction of your conditions over a period of time.
However the USU is here to oppose such unfair and unreasonable attacks on your current award conditions.
What can you Do?
Support the USU in its fight to keep your conditions. If you are not in the Union, join the USU now to support us in our fight to keep your conditions.
Join today at www.usu.org.au/join
