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To: Joseph Yeung, Registrar, Portable Long Service Authority Victoria
Community services workers deserve transparency about long service leave!
The Victorian Portable Long Service Authority needs to be transparent about how applications to the scheme are being handled.
Some workers are being unlawfully denied portable long service leave by employers, and despite having a webform to allow workers to apply for the scheme, the Authority seems to not be assessing these applications!
Despite this, the Authority has refused to meet with the union for community services workers, the ASU.
Some workers are being unlawfully denied portable long service leave by employers, and despite having a webform to allow workers to apply for the scheme, the Authority seems to not be assessing these applications!
Despite this, the Authority has refused to meet with the union for community services workers, the ASU.
All we’re asking is for the Authority to:
- Sit down with the ASU to transparently discuss the process by which worker applications are being assessed.
- Confirm that employers have no opportunity to delay or obstruct the assessment and approval of eligible worker applications.
- Publish timelines for assessment on their website alongside the worker application webform.
The Registrar must assess worker applications within a reasonable timeframe, and engage with the ASU as representatives of Community Services Workers!
Why is this important?
The ASU has been fighting for years to have the Portable Long Service Authority allow workers to apply for registration rather than waiting for their employer to do the right thing (with no consequences from the Authority). While the Authority recently created a webform to this end, the ASU has had no indication that these applications are being processed!
What we have seen from the Authority over the last 5 years since the Portable Long Service Scheme went live is:
- prioritizing collaborative ‘education’ of employers who repeatedly flout the legislation and continual ‘last chance’ warnings from the Authority;
- dismissing and ignoring Community Services workers – including many workers being told to be patient for a period of several years, while the Authority has friendly discussions with employers;
- refusing (until mid-2024) to implement a Worker Application form, despite this being a legislative requirement; and
- treating their role as financial fund managers rather than service providers for Community Services Workers; and regulators of sketchy employers.
ASU Community Services members fought hard to get this scheme in place, and we’re not going to let the Authority leave eligible workers out in the cold.