The National Employment Standards (NES) are minimum employment entitlements that must be provided to all employees in the national workplace relations system. However, the eligibility criteria for some NES leave entitlements are limited to defined activities or specific classes of people.
Statutory kinship and fosters carers provide an essential community service, often with minimal notice, that state and territories are reliant on for their out-of-home care systems to function. Statutory kinship and fosters carers have the day-to-day care and responsibility for children, often for many years, who have been removed by the state under Child Protection legislation and Court Orders. However, they are omitted or not specifically identified in some NES leave entitlements, including Community Service Leave, and Parental Leave. This situation is particularly anomalous when had the child not been removed due to significant safety concerns, the child’s parent would have been entitled to these NES leave entitlements.
Families Australia recommends that the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations, Skills and Training’s Inquiry into the operational and adequacy of the National Employment Standards (NES) under the Fair Work Act make recommendations to:
- Recognise statutory kinship and fosters as a defined group under the NES Community Services Leave entitlement. This would recognise the unplanned, time-critical and essential community service that they provide and that states and territories are reliant on for their out-of-home care systems to function.
- Noting the interaction between the NES leave entitlements, that all NES leave entitlements specifically identify statutory kinship and foster carers as a recognised class of people entitled to leave - such as in the entitlement to Parental Leave and to Personal, Carers and Compassionate Leave.
- Commission national data collection of statutory kinship and foster carers such as their employment status; occupation; employer size; age; gender; Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander; and their reduced hours, income loss or workforce exits due to caring for children in out-of-home care.
Families Australia’s recommendations align with the objectives of the Fair Work Act to promote increased workforce participation and social inclusion, particularly affecting women, women aged 50 and over, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.