For over a year, the HSU has been in dispute with Crookwell Taralga Aged Care (CTAC) as to the payment of an on-call allowance for staff who are required to remain ready and available for duties during their meal break.

After the HSU lodged an application in the Fair Work Commission, CTAC and Uniting have finally come to the table and agreed to pay affected staff the allowance. Starting from the pay period ending 31 July 2022, staff who are rostered to work the afternoon or night shift, and are required to remain on site and available to return to duty, will be paid an on-call (meal break) allowance.

CTAC/Uniting have also acknowledged that staff have been ‘on-call’ during these shifts for quite some time, without receiving the allowance. As such, management will conduct a review of previous rosters and payroll documentation for the purposes of paying this allowance retrospectively. It has been communicated to the HSU that this review will take some time. The Union will continue to liaise with members and CTAC/Uniting as to the status of these retrospective payments.

The Union is aware of and working on other issues raised by members, including

• Broken shift allowances;
• Meal allowances/ meals provided for staff working overtime shifts;
• Minimum breaks between shifts;
• Travel related overtime/ travel between sites;
• Additional breaks that apply for overtime shifts; and
• Transfer of business to Uniting.

These issues have been raised with management and the HSU will continue to work with members to achieve a resolution.

This win is a perfect example of members coming forward to enforce workplace rights under their Enterprise Agreement. If you continue to have issues receiving on-call allowance, or you want to speak to the Union regarding any other issue raised in this newsletter, don’t hesitate to contact your HSU Organiser via [E-Mail not displayed] or 0408 132 351 (Tuesday-Thursday).

If you know someone who isn’t a member of the HSU, send them this email. Being a member of the HSU means there’s always someone by your side fighting for your rights. New members can join online at www.hsu.asn.au/join or by calling 1300 HSU NSW.