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Workers who need to self-isolate during Auckland's lockdown are being forced to use up holiday and sick leave, a union claims.
First Union says despite a Government leave support scheme to pay workers who need to self-isolate or can't work during the current level 3 lockdown, major retail andindustry businesses, including Countdown supermarkets, are not applying for the payments, instead forcing many staff to use sick and accrued annual leave.
The union alleges this is jeopardising the national pandemic response and exploiting staff, claims the supermarket chains strenuously denies.
"These companies are eligible for a leave scheme which specifically enables them to access Government money to pay workers who need to self-isolate or can't work during the current level 3 lockdown in Auckland, but many of them are refusing to apply for it," said First Union secretary for retail and finance Tali Williams.
"It means people are being instructed to use up sick leave and, in some cases, forced to use their accrued annual leave to observe a required public health duty and do their part to protect colleagues, customers and their loved ones at home."
Williams said affected workers included those not required onsite due to operational restrictions but who couldn't work from home, those at high risk of catching Covid-19, those who lived with vulnerable household members, or those who were required to self-isolate or quarantine for health reasons or due to contact tracing of active cases.
"For example, if you're immune-compromised or you live with someone who is, you would be unable to work under level 3 of the lockdown in Auckland and should be isolating at home even though you work for an essential business like a supermarket.
"Businesses like Countdown might not meet the reduced revenue threshold required to access the broader wage subsidy scheme, but they can and should apply for this leave support scheme on behalf of employees who can't work according to public health advice."
Today Countdown said it was "incredibly disappointed" with First Union's comments.
"This is simply untrue. Every single member of our team takes our obligations and responsibilities to keep our community safe very seriously," said spokeswoman Kiri Hannifin.
The supermarket had not applied for the Government's leave scheme because it didn't feel it was necessary at this stage.
"There are many other businesses in New Zealand who do need this additional support at the moment. We know we are very privileged to be able to trade," she said.
She said staff who were deemed vulnerable due to their age or their health had been paid during level 4 and level 3 as per the Government guidelines.
"These team members have been paid discretionary leave which means their other leave entitlements are not impacted."
Those who used up sick leave were dealt with on a case-by-case basis with the company's overriding objective to pay everyone in full during this period.
"We have been clear with our team since March that they should stay home if they are unwell," said Hannifin.
First Union's Jared Abbot accused companies in the construction sector including Fletchers of being opportunistic with the lockdown by trying to drive down the leave balances of their workforces.
"These are often roles with very low annual leave entitlements that are carefully managed by workers and saved up for proper holidays and other personal plans.
"If you have to use up all your sick days to self-isolate even when you don't have Covid-19, that means more pressure on you to come to work when you're feeling slightly sick but have no leave left and can't afford to miss a rent payment."
He added the Government had made it easy for these companies to access this support and it was strange and unforgivable that so many big companies weren't doing so.
A Fletchers spokesperson said it was committed to the wellbeing of staff and was taking all reasonable and practicable steps to provide a safe work environment in this pandemic.
Up until August 21, the company was not eligible for the Covid-19 leave support scheme.
However, there had been very few staff needing to self-isolate at this stage and the company believed the best way to support employees was to work with them based on individual circumstances.
"Given this is an evolving situation, we will continue to review how we can best support our people and would consider applying for the scheme if the situation changes."
Bunnings director Jacqui Coombes said the claims made by First Union were "completely baseless".
"We will participate in the leave support scheme where applicable – a fact the union would know if they had checked with us on Friday following the government changes.
"Since this change was made we've been working to identify any team members that would benefit from the scheme and we'll apply for this subsidy on their behalf. In addition to this, we also offer 14 days paid leave for team that have no symptoms but are required by government to self-isolate due to coming into contact with someone with COVID-19.
"All our team continue to receive 100 per cent of their rostered hours, but can also access their leave entitlements if they prefer.
"We have a strong track record of doing the right thing by our team and we will continue to support them in any way that we can."
