AWU WIN | Changes to Pandemic Leave for Queensland Health Employees

Over the past year, our members have been raising the issue of the operation of the 20-day pandemic leave provisions with the AWU.

The way this entitlement has traditionally been applied meant that when workers or their family members have fallen sick with COVID-19, workers were required to exhaust their sick or carer’s leave balances before they were able to access paid pandemic leave.

AWU Queensland Secretary Stacey Schinnerl joined Health Minister Yvette D’Ath in Cairns this week to announce that the Queensland Government will be changing the pandemic leave rules so that it can be used before Queensland Health employees have to use their sick or carer’s leave.

This change will be applied retrospectively, meaning that any Queensland Health worker who contracted COVID-19 since 13 December 2021 will have their sick leave or carer’s leave credited back to them (in instances where they have used it in lieu of pandemic leave).

This is a common sense change that will preserve your sick leave and carer’s leave for when you need it most, and it couldn’t have happened without AWU members standing together and making their voices heard across the State.

Moving forward, Queensland Health employees can apply for pandemic leave via MyHR and must certify that they have been diagnosed as COVID-19 positive.