Covid 19 Splinter Award made for 2021 - and you can get vaccinated in worktime

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Published: Thursday, 29 April 2021 13:34

In March 2020, as it seemed likely that COVID-19 may get completely out of control, the unions and LGNSW were able to reach agreement on a 12 month Splinter Award providing specific entitlements for the pandemic and some degree of flexibility in dealing with it.

It was a comfort for employees even though employment remained secure. Unfortunately there are no statistics, nor any other data readily available, on whether employees were stood down under the terms of the Award. Certainly we don’t have any members who were.

What it did do was focus the attention of Councils on their mismanagement of leave and their failure to manage the accumulation of excessive annual leave and long service leave. It takes a pandemic to wake management up to the importance of properly managing the annual accumulation of annual and long service leave, and those provisions in the Award which encourage employees to take it.

In February 2021, while things were starting to look more under control in Australia, they were getting worse nearly everywhere else and they continue to get worse in second and third waves. The industry decided that it made sense to have another Splinter Award for 2021 when the 2020 Splinter Award expired on 6 April.

It was agreed that councils would need to “opt in” again to be covered by the Splinter Award 2021 but there were two changes made to the 2020 arrangements for 2021.

First, a new entitlement to leave, without loss of pay, to receive a Therapeutic Goods Administration approved vaccination (clause 12). Yes, you can get you vaccination during working hours.

Second, to be eligible for the Job Retention Allowance, employees must have an accrued annual leave balance of fewer than four weeks (clause 14.10)

The Award was made on 20 April 2021 by Commissioner Murphy to operate from 8 April and by consent of the parties with the initial “opt in” councils in Column A, and from 28 April will have further councils opting in in Column B.

Here is a link to what the Splinter Award will look like operating from 28 April and you can expect that there will be a series of updates as more councils in.

Where’s Tim?  

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Published: Thursday, 29 April 2021 13:34

In the last two issues we covered our disappointment at an order made by OLG CEO Tim Hurst that included one paragraph we believe to be demonstrably untrue. And that in turn allowed a wet lettuce leaf punishment of Councillor Funnell at Wagga Wagga for a Code of Conduct breach.

Hope does spring eternal and we are great believers in exploring opportunities to reach agreement, even with the most obstinate and difficult opponents. Most of our work is in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission where the primary responsibility of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 is conciliation - getting the parties to reach agreement.

We emailed OLG CEO Tim Hurst three times about the fallacy in paragraph 20 of his Order and each email was ignored. Then we filed our GIPA application which, with a speed that will astonish people who been waiting for years and years for OLG to get their fingers out and resolve multiple complaints, the request was rejected immediately. So quickly, that our letter containing a cheque for $30 for our application would not have even arrived in Nowra!

We filed an appeal in NCAT over OLG’s refusal to provide documents about Tim Hurst’s decision to end while we wonder where Tim is, it’s always worth one more attempt and if that fails, a comprehensive letter can then become part of our evidence in the appeal.

Here is our letter emailed to Tim Hurst on 19 April. Still no answer, he may be easier to find in a red and white striped top and beanie.

While there was no response from Tim, nor approach from his lawyers or anyone else to discuss him doing the right thing, a timetable has been agreed between our barrister and theirs, and has been duly ordered by the tribunal:

• the Respondent file and serve any written submissions and other documents on which it relies by 10 May 2021
• The Applicant file and serve any written submissions and other documents on which he relies by 24 May 2021
• The Respondent file and serve any written submissions and other material in reply by 31 May 2021
• The matter be listed for hearing on 9 June 2021 at 10am for half a day.

We are patiently waiting to see what OLG/Tim will have to say for themselves, and it may well be useful in the proceedings for us to take steps to have him subpoenaed to give evidence. David Shoebridge, who we know regularly and skilfully cross- examines Tim, would come to that.

We’ll keep you in the loop. There are so many outstanding complaints stuck in OLG, all protected by what the Office says to be there protections under GIPA, that something has to be done about proper transparency and governance.

(We apologise for the title of the proceedings, it’s not self-aggrandisement, but the procedures at NCAT don’t allow an organisation to file an appeal, only an individual.)