Victorian Government to provide casual workers sick leave

VICTORIAN casual or insecure workers in priority industries will receive up to five days of paid sick and carer’s leave as part of the Andrews Labor Government’s Secure Work Pilot Scheme.

The Pilot Scheme will cover workers in sectors with high rates of casual work including cleaners, hospitality staff, security guards, supermarket workers and aged care staff.

The pilot will roll out in two phases over two years with eligible occupations to be finalised after a consultation process that will include workers, industry and union.

“When people have nothing to fall back on, they make a choice between the safety of their workmates and feeding their family. The ultimate decision they make isn’t wrong – what’s wrong is they’re forced to make it at all,” Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said.

“This isn’t going to solve the problem of insecure work overnight but someone has to put their hand up and say we’re going to take this out of the too hard basket and do something about it – and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

Casual and insecure workers in eligible sectors will be invited to pre-register for the scheme. The Pilot Scheme is funded by Victorian Government.