Across Victoria’s workforce there are nearly one million casual and contract workers. Many of them don’t have access to sick and carer’s pay. They’re often forced to make the difficult choice between going to work sick or staying home and missing out on pay.
The Victorian Sick Pay Guarantee provides a financial safety net for those workers. It helps people to stay home when they’re sick. It helps people to take care of their families. And it helps to protect the health of all Victorians – in the first year of the pilot, 41 per cent of workers surveyed said they would have gone to work unwell if they had not signed up to the pilot.
When we introduced the Sick Pay Guarantee in 2022, we were the first state in Australia to support casual and contract workers with sick and carer’s pay. More than a year later, and we’re still the only state supporting insecure workers in this way.
This People and Places Grant Program will help us to provide all eligible workers with the information and support they need to access the pilot program. Because no worker should have to choose between a day’s pay and their health – or the health of a loved one.
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