Another reason to increase sick leave

The pandemic has shown the utter inadequacy of our current sick leave provisions, with workers not having enough leave to cope with any real illness and facing significant economic pressure to work while sick and thereby spread disease (not helped by cheapskate employers wanting to Keep Staff Costs Low). And yet, faced with an obvious threat to public health, the government has refused to contemplate increasing it. Part of their excuse is a leave subsidy scheme for businesses, which should in theory cover the costs of pandemic-related leave. The problem? Major employers are refusing to use it:

Some companies are not applying for the Government sick leave subsidy, and instead forcing workers to use their own leave for Covid-19 related requirements, First Union says.

First Union secretary for transport, logistics and manufacturing, Jared Abbott said Fletcher Building, supermarket companies Foodstuffs and Countdown and Lion had told staff that they must use their sick leave or annual leave if they could not work while waiting for a Covid-19 test result.

The union was worried people with little or no available leave would put off being tested because they could not afford the time off work, Abbott said.

And as the article explains, this means their workers are stuck with the same old inadequate provision and economic pressure to infect their co-workers and customers. Meaning that these employers are a direct threat to public health. And since the current voluntary subsidy isn't getting them to do the right thing, the government really has no other alternative: legislate for an immediate increase in sick leave.

(And while its at it, it should insert a provision in the Holidays Act enabling increases by Ministerial direction whenever an epidemic notice is in effect. Because that seems to have been an obvious gap in the Epidemic Preparedness Act scheme).