Union: Pandora's anti-sick leave sentiment not unusual

Tuesday, 15 December 2020

Most retail workers have been actively discouraged from taking sick leave, according to a survey by First Union.

First Union retail, finance and commerce secretary Tali Williams said the organisation conducted a survey earlier this year after hearing from members they had been unable to take sick leave or had been “guilt-tripped” into coming into work when they were unwell.

Of the thousand survey respondents, 56 per cent said that over the previous 12 months they had come into work sick because of the pressure put on them, Williams said.

Instead of being told directly that they could not take sick leave, retail staff reported being told that they were putting the business and their colleagues under pressure if they stayed home sick, she said.

First Union retail, finance and commerce secretary Tali Williams says workers need to know their rights and to remember it is not misconduct to be sick.

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The pushback against sick leave was rarely as blunt as that experienced by some Pandora workers this week, Williams said.

In a video sent to staff, the head of The Howley Group, Joseph Howley, Pandora’s franchisor of some New Zealand and Australian stores, said that because the company was going into a “very busy” time of the year, staff should not call in sick for the next three weeks.

While Howley’s comments were “ridiculously obvious”, what most workers experienced was more insidious, Williams said.

“It is that moment when you call in and you are told that you are putting all your colleagues in a bad position. People care about their colleagues, so they say they don’t want to let people down and then we all suffer.”

The majority of retail workers say they have been pressured into coming into work sick by their managers or supervisors, according to a First Union survey.

Williams said it was important for workers to understand it was their legal right to take sick leave and that their employer was behaving unlawfully if they said they could not take sick leave.

“Moral and ethical arguments aside, it is unlawful and you have the right to say, actually, I am going to stay home sick.”

From an employer perspective, the issue of sick leave highlighted a broader problem, Williams said.

Many businesses in the retail sector were chronically understaffed, she said.

Better staffing levels gave leeway for businesses if someone called in sick, she said.

Stu Lumsden, national manager of the Labour Inspectorate for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, says the retail sector is a priority.

Poor staffing levels should not be blamed on employees, she said.

“It is not misconduct to be sick,” she said.

Stu Lumsden, the Labour Inspectorate’s national manager, said the inspectorate was concerned by the allegations that workers were being asked not to take leave when they were sick.

“At this time, it is especially important for people to adhere to the public safety messages and stay home if they are sick to reduce risks to themselves and others,” Lumsden said.

Under employment law, an employee could take sick leave if they were sick, or if they needed to look after a sick or injured spouse, partner or dependant, and had sick leave entitlements, Lumsden said.

“An employer should not ask an employee to come into their workplace if they are sick. Employers also have obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act to ensure people in their workplace are not put at risk,” he said.

If an employee did not have sick leave available, then they should talk to their employers about taking alternative forms of leave or taking unpaid leave, he said.

“The retail sector is a priority area for the Labour Inspectorate,” Lumsden said.

“That means in addition to responding to complaints, the inspectorate conducts proactive visits to the businesses in the sector to audit their compliance with the minimum employment standards.”

The inspectorate was also working with industry leaders, such as industry associations and franchisors, to encourage self-auditing and to improve compliance from the top down, he said.

In November, a sales assistant in Auckland who went to work sick later tested positive for Covid-19.

It was initially reported that she had called in sick but was told she had to come to work.

The employee subsequently released a statement through her employer’s lawyer to say that she had not called her manager regarding the sick leave.

Last month, the Government announced it would double the sick leave entitlement from five days to 10 days by the end of 2021.