Petition is successful with 377 signatures
To: Monash University
Carer's leave for staff required to care for their children during Victorian school closures
This campaign has ended.
Please sign to demand access to carer’s leave as per the enterprise agreement!
On Thursday 16th April the University snuck through an update to the COVID-19 Leave Guidelines which adversely affects all staff required to assist and care for their children during Victorian school closures by imposing that they either fulfil the full requirements of their role or take annual, long service, unpaid leave, and/or temporarily reduce their fraction of employment.
Despite the fact that the State government has asked parents in no uncertain terms to keep their children home in a state of emergency, Monash has not committed to giving staff who need time off work to meet their parental obligation with carer’s leave.
The lack of reassurance regarding the impact this will have on performance outcomes, personal finances and staff health and wellbeing counters all other messages of support and understanding for those ensuring the University remains operational.
We call on all those affected to sign our petition, and all those in solidarity with those affected to sign too!
Why is this important?
Members have been contacting us with their stories:
"I have only recently started at Monash and do not have the leave balance or personal wealth to cover this requirement. I have no choice but to let my kid’s education suffer as I cannot assist them and fulfil the full requirements of my role."
"I have two children in lower to middle secondary school. Their schooling has shifted online, which requires me to monitor their schooling from 8.30am to 3.15pm each week day, and react to technical and learning issues throughout the day. In a non-COVID19 environment, I acquit my fractional hours by working uninterrupted during school hours from Monday to Friday (8.30am to 3.30pm). I am no longer able to get the uninterrupted school hours, so I am working much later into the evenings and on weekends, and this is impacting on my ability to look after my children outside of school hours and to assist my mother with the care of my father, who has Alzheimers."
"I am the parent of a 5 and 6 year old. The 6 year old is in the process of being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and needs close and constant supervision. It is not possible to do any work at the same time as home-schooling. I am seeking carers leave to cover two days a week and my partner would be undertaking the other three days. I will spend the three work days fulfilling my teaching and engagement obligations, and will forego my research during this time. Clearly this is likely to impact on my track record for ARC grant applications and my next promotion application, but I feel I have no other choice due to pressures from my department."
"I have a secondary school-age child. She has some significant health problems including anxiety, I have to spend a considerable amount of time keeping her on track with her learning. I also have an elderly mother (78) who lives on her own. I therefore need to regularly do her shopping, something she would normally do for herself, but should not at the moment because of the health risks of her leaving the house. Now when there is the prospect of me actually being able to take COVID-19 related leave, it has suddenly been withdrawn. This feels like a slap in the face, especially given the generosity of the university toward students. By contrast, for academics the so-called generosity has been swiftly removed, making a farce of the entire "thanks for being so incredible working overtime" statements that have been made routinely during the crisis. Personally, I worked more than 12 hours a day for 3 weeks, with no days off, and received nothing in recognition, except hollow words."