We’ve had several conferences at the Fair Work Commission regarding members who work in SIL homes being underpaid. On Wednesday 3 July, we finally achieved a breakthrough.
As members would know, the issue has always been that Complete have paid Level 1 disability support workers in SIL homes as home carers (about $33 an hour as a casual) whereas their disability support workers who work in private residences in the community are paid at SCHCDS Award Level 2.1 ($40.26). The reason for the difference is that those who work in private residences have relatively shorter shifts so they figure they can pay those members more than those with longer shifts. Of course, the Agreement and the law requires that all disability support workers who work without direct supervision or extensive on-the-job training must be paid at least at the equivalent of Level 2 of the SCHCDS Award.
Under pressure from HACSU, the Fair Work Commission and most likely their own lawyer, Complete have now agreed to do an assessment of all SIL workers and rectify the rate of pay by 31 July 2024. Complete have agreed to provide the results of that assessment to us.
Knowing Complete, we don’t have a great deal of confidence that they’ll get this right but at least the intention is now the right one.
The first step is for workers to start getting paid correctly. The next step will be to work with Complete to ensure workers are appropriately back paid for all the time they have been underpaid.
We’d like to thank all of our members who have been so helpful in sharing their insights into the work that they do. Without their passion and engagement, we wouldn’t be able to achieve this result.