Paid pandemic leave needed: ACTU secretary Sally McManus – NEWS.com.au

Paid pandemic leave should be given to every worker quarantining or needing a coronavirus test, trade union secretary Sally McManus says. The ACTU has reignited calls for the Federal Government to pay workers their full rate of pay, as case numbers continue to surge in Victoria.
The state, along with Queensland, has already introduced a one-off payment of $1500 for employees without leave entitlements who test positive for COVID-19.
But Ms McManus says the payment, the equivalent of the minimum wage, is not enough for full-time workers.
“All workers need to know they will receive 100 per cent of their wage while waiting for results and while in quarantine,” she says.
“If we do not urgently adopt this approach, insecure low-paid workers are more likely to avoid testing because they are scared of losing their job and being left with nothing.
“The Federal Government should fund this program, it will be the most cost-effective measure they can take to save our economy.”
But Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox told the ABC he agreed with the Fair Work Commission, which he says “rejected paid pandemic leave”, saying there were other ways for people to be paid.
He says businesses are going to need as many support measures from the Government as possible for them to survive past September when the JobKeeper wage subsidy is due to end.
Ms McManus has also raised concerns about workplace laws, saying they do not go far enough to prohibit employers from sacking workers in quarantine.

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