A recent case illustrates how support from your union can help you navigate dealing with your Department to ensure your entitlements are calculated correctly.

A member working for the Department of Communities and Justice contacted their Organiser to check advice they were being given about the rate at which their Parental Leave should be paid.

Confirmation from their union that the advice Payroll had given them was incorrect eventually resulted in a recalculation of their Parental Leave rate of pay that made them $14,000 better off financially.

“The Department also agreed to provide further training to Payroll staff on the Award conditions so that the award is applied correctly in the future, and no other employees suffer from incorrect decisions by their Department,” said PSA CPSU NSW Women’s Industrial Officer Simone Scalmer. “The member was due to start Parental Leave for their second child, after working part-time since returning to work after having their first baby.

“The Crown Employees Award sets out the rate at which parental leave should be calculated, and states if an employee needs another period of parental leave for another child within 24 months of their first period of parental leave, and they have either not returned to work or are working reduced hours, their leave will be paid at the rate they were paid before their first period of leave began.

“Payroll incorrectly advised our member that the 24 months needed to be calculated from the date of birth of her first child until the estimated due date of the second baby, when the award states it is from when the first parental leave period commences until the second period commences, noting that parental leave can start up to nine weeks before the estimated due date.

“The member received advice from the Women’s Unit and took this back to Human Resources and Payroll who would not change their decision and insisted she should be paid at the part-time rate.”

Ms Scalmer then wrote to the Department on behalf of the member and Employee Relations eventually agreed that the member should be paid Parental Leave at the full-time rate and undertook to provide further training to ensure Payroll staff understood the award conditions properly.

“If members are unsure that they are being given correct advice they should always contact their union who will stand up and fight for their rights if conditions are not being correctly applied,” said PSA President Nicole Jess.