Women’s Focus Public Education Week
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Email Tish Champion on : 2008 tchampion@aeusa.asn.au Update: Enterprise Bargaining
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AEU Women’s Officer Tish Champion answers your FAQs on Paid Maternity Leave In all schools there is a range of ages and experience among staff. Among them are women who remember the time when… There are women who have never known any different. And there are women for whom the notion of having to resign to get married or have a child is ridiculous and unbelievable. I once told a “young” woman at a conference that when I had my first child I only got two weeks paid maternity leave. She looked at me seriously and asked, “Wow, how old are you?” It is extremely important to remember how far we have progressed when it comes to leave entitlements because by remembering the past we are better placed to appreciate the now and push on for the future. It is worth remembering that the increased equality and conditions of employment enjoyed by women in education is due in no small part to the work done by the women activists who came before us. As they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
So… how far have women come? • Until 1968 women had to resign to have a child • Until 1970 women teachers received a lower salary than male teachers • Until 1970 women could not be married and have permanent status with the Department – they had to resign and return as a temporary teacher • Until 2000 there was no paid maternity leave. Paid leave was introduced in 2000 and women who were eligible received only two weeks pay. And here we are in the year 2013, a far cry from the late 50s and early 60s when South Australian women in education were fighting to get equal pay for equal work. We should never take our rights and entitlements for granted because what “one hand giveth, the 18
other hand can taketh away”. Through enterprise bargaining the AEU has made yet another significant gain with respect to paid maternity leave. If you’re planning to take paid maternity leave sometime in the future, keep reading for details.
Who is entitled to paid maternity leave? Only those in permanent and contract positions are entitled to paid maternity leave. Casual employees such as HPIs in DECD and TAFE, TRTs, casual SSOs, AEWs or ECWs are not entitled to paid leave.
What about contract teachers? A teacher must be in a contract to apply for and be granted paid maternity leave and the leave must begin within one day of the contract ending. The full entitlement of paid leave will be paid regardless of the contract end date.
What happens if I don’t get a contract for one term? Is this a break in service? A break in service is 3 months (not counting holidays) without any work for the department. If a contract teacher has a contract for Terms 1, 3 and 4, and does TRT work in Term 2, Term 2 will not be deemed a break in service. This term, however, will be taken into account by the Department when determining a pro rata level of pay for maternity leave purposes.
How much paid maternity leave am I entitled to? Under the new EA, a woman with less than 5 years service will be entitled to 16 weeks paid maternity leave from 14 December 2012. A woman with 5 years or more service with the Department will be entitled to 18 weeks paid maternity leave. Most women who qualify for the DECD paid maternity leave will also be
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entitled to the federally funded paid parental leave of 18 weeks at the basic minimum wage.
What if I applied for and was approved paid maternity leave that began in December 2012? Unfortunately the new entitlements will only apply to women taking paid maternity leave from 14 December 2012, as this is the operative date for the new maternity leave clause. Any woman who began her paid maternity leave prior to this date will still receive the 14 weeks.
What if I applied for and was approved 14 weeks paid maternity leave to begin this school year? The 16 and 18 week entitlements are effective from 14 December 2012. If your leave was approved prior to this date and you have or will commence the leave after this date, the Department will be automatically applying the new entitlements. The Department has informed the AEU that employees do not need to do anything. There will be a system check to establish all eligible employees and adjustments will be made automatically to the length of your maternity leave payments. n
8: www.aeusa.asn.au/interest_women.html