Foodstuffs pushes back on 10 days sick leave, leaving union 'disappointed'

Friday, 5 February 2021

Bill before Parliament would double minimum sick leave to 10 days a year.

Supermarket group Foodstuffs has called on MPs to water down a plan to double the legal entitlement to sick leave to 10 days, saying it is worried about the impact on businesses’ costs and profits.

The company, whose brands include New World, Pak’n, Four Square and Liquorland, said sick leave costs could double and it was “unlikely that businesses will recoup these costs in productivity gains”.

Government relations head Melissa Hodd suggested Parliament’s Education and Workforce select committee should instead consider recommending an increase in the minimum entitlement to seven or eight days.

It should also consider reverting back to a five-day minimum entitlement after the Covid crisis, she said in a submission to the committee.

Foodstuffs says it is concerned about how doubling sick leave entitlements would affect owners of its smaller stores.

* Sick leave increase will cost almost $1b a year, officials estimate

* Government to double paid sick leave by late-2021, but will not increase maximum amount an employee can hold

Another suggestion put forward by Foodstuffs was that the Government should consider sticking to a five-day minimum entitlement while raising the cap on the amount of sick leave employees are legally entitled to carry forward from year to year from 20 days, to 25 or 30 days.

First Union assistant general secretary Louisa Jones said it was disappointing that “a major supermarket chain like Foodstuffs” had chosen to take that approach.

Last year, the union surveyed retail workers and 57 per cent told the union they had come to work sick due to pressure from a manager, she said.

“This culture needs to change, for the safety of workers and the community.

“It’s especially important for essential services and food hygiene standards that no one comes to work sick.”

But Hodd said Foodstuffs was particularly concerned about how the proposed increase in sick leave would impact the cooperatives’ smaller members.

Retail staff are employed directly by Foodstuffs’ 600 independently-owned stores, the majority of which had fewer than 20 employees, she said.

“Coupled with the upcoming increase in the minimum wage, which flows through to higher pay for supervisory staff to maintain relativity, and the planned introduction of an additional public holiday from 2022, the cumulative costs of the proposed employment law changes will be very significant,” she said.

“It is unlikely that businesses will recoup these costs in productivity gains,” she added.

Comment has been sought from Foodstuffs on the minimum sick leave Hodd is entitled to under her employment contract.

Stephen Blumenfeld, director of Victoria University’s Centre for Labour, Employment and Work, said evidence did not support Foodstuffs’ concern that a move to 10 days could double sick leave costs.

Outside of the Rugby World Cup, sickies are pretty unusual, survey data seems to suggest.

Blumenfeld, who also made a submission to the select committee, said most employees in New Zealand were already offered at least 10 days sick leave under their contracts.

But a survey conducted in 2019 by Business NZ and insurer Southern Cross found the average rate of absences in 2018 was 4.7 days, he said.

“You hear employers complaining about employees taking ‘sickies’, but that is really the exception to the rule,” he said.

“The only exception to that is during the Rugby World Cup when people tend to get ‘sick’ – especially if it is in New Zealand.”

Blumenfeld agreed it was particularly important from a public health perspective that workers employed in the food retailing industry were able to take sick leave if they needed it.

He questioned a current rule under which people need to be employed for six months before they are legally entitled to sick leave.

Given staff turnover in food retailing was “close to 50 per cent” a year, many workers in the industry would not have any entitlement, he said.

Blumenfeld backed a call from the Council of Trade Unions for sick leave to start to accrue from “day one”.

“The logic to making people wait escapes me. Is it because you are trying to ferret out people who are not healthy?”

Foodstuffs also called in its submission for sick leave days to be pro-rated for part-time staff and for employers to be entitled to more information when staff did call in sick.

“There are currently no regulations governing medical certificates and this has resulted in many medical certificates that fall short in terms of meeting employers’ minimum expectations,” it said.

Information it wanted included whether a sickness was potentially work-related and the length of time the employee needed to be off work, and when they should return.

“In cases of illness or injury related to work, such information would greatly assist employers manage their health and safety at work obligations,” it said.