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Australians have won the right to ignore their bosses outside of working hours and there is now pressure for workers to be able to take advantage of unused leave for other jobs.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese raised the proposal during the last election in 2022, which would make annual, sick and long-term leave “portable”.
The change is aimed at insecure workers who cannot accrue the same rights as part- or full-time workers, such as casual workers, contractors and those in the informal economy.
Incolink, Australia’s largest union-backed workplace benefits scheme, has backed the proposal and chief executive Erik Locke has said he would like Labor to go beyond its election promise and consider establishing a nationwide approach.
The proposal that the Labor Party promised in the last election is aimed at insecure workers, such as casuals and employees in the informal economy. Under the plan, these Australians would be able to enjoy their leave entitlements from job to job (pictured, bar workers).
In a radical reform, a federal government proposal would allow gig economy workers to accumulate annual leave.
Mr. Locke said The Australian The new benefits system, valued in billions of dollars, would be like the retirement plan: vacation would accumulate in the employee’s account.
“A national transferable leave rights scheme, implemented first in industries characterized by insecure work, and then at a national level, means that critical workplace redundancy rights are up to the worker, not the employer,” he said.
“Over time the plan would result in funds like ours growing to a similar scale to super funds and that, my friends, is a very good thing because it allows workers’ money to be invested to create jobs and improve their wellbeing.”
Not everyone agrees with the radical proposal, which would provide a safety net for insecure workers.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox described it as “another money grab with zero productivity”.
“Most Australian workers would prefer to have extra money on hand rather than a complex paper trail of a potential future benefit,” he said.
“Portable extended service leave would create a new administrative and compliance burden for businesses and taxpayers.”
Wilcox also said he believed most Australian workers would rather have the money than have their rights trapped in a government system.
The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations will begin consultations next month with unions and employers on the proposal.
Employers have been left furious by the Albanese government’s new “right to disconnect” rules which will see companies fined if they contact employees out of hours to carry out unpaid work.
Workers who normally don’t have the opportunity to accumulate leave could soon have a safety net under the proposal. Employees could transfer rights such as sick leave to different jobs.
The provisions have been inserted into the government’s “Closing Loopholes” bill in order to gain the necessary support from the Greens, so they will be approved by parliament this week, after Senate MP David Pocock , will also support the new laws.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry head Andrew McKellar called the new laws “ridiculous” and “a triumph of stupidity over common sense”, arguing it was better to let employers and employees decide contact Out of time.
“This is a bit of a Green thought bubble,” McKellar told Sky News on February 7.
”It is obvious that this should be something that can be discussed between employers and employees.
‘In many business agreements we are now seeing that there are perfectly sensible provisions, agreements about how these types of contact arrangements should be made.
“We have to get the balance right, but clearly there is no need for the government to impose itself here with legislation that imposes sanctions.”