CHANGES TO THE CALCULATION OF PUBLIC HOLIDAY ENTITLEMENTS WHERE PUBLIC HOLIDAYS FALL ON A DAY THAT A PART-TIME WORKER DOES NOT WORK

PART-TIME WORKERS PUBLIC SECTOR

Members may recall that the Union was in dispute with Southern Health over the calculation of the payment of the entitlement for pay for pubic holidays which fall on days that a part-time employee does not work. It was the Union’s view that Southern Health had been paying the entitlement incorrectly.

Fair Work Australia has now determined that the payment to part-time staff employed under the Public Health Sector (Medical Scientists, Pharmacists and Psychologists) Multi-enterprise Agreement 2008-2011 (the public sector EBA) should be based on the average number of hours that a part-time worker works per day, on the days that s/he works. The entitlement is determined by calculating average weekly hours over the previous 6 months, divided by the average number of days per week which have been worked, to get the base payment of the average number of hours worked per day. (Note that under the public sector EBA the hours and days of the week that a part-time employee works must be agreed in writing.)

The new formula differs from the interpretation which the Union has previously advised, which was that part-time members should be paid a pro-rata payment for the day based on their weekly hours as a proportion of 38.

Fair Work Australia decided that the 2008-2011 public sector EBA properly provides that payment should be made according the average number of hours per day worked by part-timers. That is, if a part time employee works an average of 8 hours per day, they will be paid 8 hours for a public holiday which falls on a day on which they don’t normally work; if a part-time employee works an average of 4 hours per day, they will be paid 4 hours, and so on. In diagrammatic form the entitlement is as follows:

The decision was issued by FWA in November 2010. We are aware that Southern Health has not been applying this formula. This means that there are likely to be many members who work part-time at Southern Health who have been underpaid for the following public holidays: Christmas Day 25^th December 2010; Boxing Days 26^th December and 28^th December 2010; New Year’s Days 1^st January and 3^rd January 2011; Australia Day 26^th January 2011; Labour Day 14^th March 2011.

We have contacted Southern Health about this matter to ensure that members are paid correctly for the Easter public holidays and the Anzac Day public holiday, and will also receive backpay for previous public holiday payments. We are waiting for a response.

Because the decision of FWA applies to the 2008-2011 Multi-enterprise agreement, it means that the decision applies to all public sector employers, not just Southern Health. Therefore all part-time members in the public sector will be entitled to be paid for public holidays which fall on days that they do not work according to the above formula - and may be entitled to backpay for previous public holidays depending on their individual working arrangements.