Member wins $27,000 wage adjustment

Case highlights troubling QH contract practice

The Queensland Industrial Relations Commission has slammed the insidious practice of Queensland Health (QH) managers signing contracts on behalf of employees, while awarding a QNMU member more than $27,000 in unpaid parental leave entitlements recently.

The Commission ruled in favour of our member who, with QNMU support, took her case to the QIRC after her part time post-parental leave contract was extended without her agreement.

Our member had been working part time following the birth of her first child, when she fell pregnant with her second.

In order to access full time paid parental leave for the second baby, she followed the common practice in her work unit and applied to work full time for her last week before going on her second round of parental leave.

Despite this being a routine practice, and even encouraged by management previously, her request was refused and her employer unilaterally renewed a six-month part time contract on her behalf which continued past the start of her parental leave.

The QNMU assisted our member in lodging and progressing a grievance through appropriate channels at her workplace, but each time the employer argued she must have agreed to the contract.

Negotiations with the HHS failed as did conciliation through the

Commission, so the matter progressed to a hearing which was convened to consider whether the nurse’s working arrangement for the six-month contract should have been part time or full time.

Commissioner McLennan found in favour of our member and ruled she be reinstated as full time backdated from 25 January 2021 –the week prior to taking her second period of parental leave.

The Commissioner also made scathing remarks with respect to the QH practice of signing contracts on behalf of employees, which is likely to have implications for their practice in future, and highlights the need for managers to be better educated on contemporary management practices including equity in contract law.

The member is now owed the difference in her income from 25 January 2021 until the conclusion of her paid parental leave, which is a wage adjustment for 28 weeks plus rectification of all other entitlements such as leave balances, superannuation etc.

The Commissioner’s ruling concludes matters in the QIRC, however our member is now awaiting conciliation in the Queensland Human Rights Commission where she is making a claim for discriminatory treatment.

QNMU Membership hits

QNMU MEMBERSHIP reached the 70,000-member mark in January keeping us firmly in the top position as the largest and strongest union in Queensland, and one of the biggest in Australia.

Our solid membership base means QNMU members advocate and negotiate from a position of strength

70,000 for their professional, industrial and social rights. It also means we are better positioned to provide best practice for the people we care for.

The QNMU is unmatched when it comes to advancing the standing of nurses and midwives in Queensland. So thank you for being part of it.