Community and Residential Living Provider Newsletter
16 June 2017
This newsletter is designed to help Community and Residential Living (CRL) providers implement the Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement. The newsletters go out every week and cover key messages; provide updates on ongoing processes and information on upcoming events.
This edition includes:
· What’s happening this coming week
· Funding
· Leave liability
· Eligibility
· Updated operational policy document
· Casual staff
· Paying employees for ratification meetings
· Key dates
· Frequently asked questions
· Contact the pay equity implementation team
What’s happening this coming week
The Care and Support Worker (Pay Equity) Settlement Bill received Royal Assent this week. We have published an updated operational policy document, available here.
The focus for CRL providers over the coming week:
· reviewing their updated data collection tools in the secure data portal
· ensuring payroll managers and payroll providers are ready to pay eligible workers the new wages from 1 July
· gathering staff qualification information
· preparing claim forms for employee attendance at union ratification meetings providers
· reviewing the updated operational policy document
· asking the Ministry’s pay equity implementation team any outstanding questions
· reviewing the Ministry’s frequently asked questions on the Settlement.
Funding
Providers will receive an advance interim payment to pay eligible employees the new pay rates from 1 July. The funding will be for up to three months and will be paid into provider accounts by 3 July.
The Ministry of Health will be in contact with providers next week to advise the amount of funding they can expect to receive. Providers will need to confirm payroll system changes have been made to enable these new pay rates and that new pay rates are being made. If you have any questions, please contact your funder.
Leave liability
The Ministry of Health has been listening to provider concerns about the impact of pay equity on leave liability. In response, we have been considering options to support providers further and discussing the issue with ministers.
The Ministry will be contributing to the increased cost of annual leave accrued prior to 1 July 2017. Funding will be up to an average of four weeks (160 hours) per full-time equivalent employee.
Increases in annual leave liability (e.g. arising from an increase in the minimum wage) are not normally funded. There is no legal requirement for the Crown to contribute funding to manage annual leave liability. However, this is a policy decision to support providers in recognition of the impact of pay equity on leave liability.
Providers will be required to submit to the Ministry of Health details of average leave liability for validation and payment will be made in September. More information about this process will be available soon.
The leave liability calculation does not include business as usual wage growth as this is not part of the cost of the pay equity increases.
Leave accrued after 1 July 2017 is covered by on-costs and included in the main pay equity cost modelling. Increases in leave liability arising from increases on 1 July 2018 and beyond will not be funded. The contractual approach for distributing funding will be via deemed variation.
Eligibility
The updated operational policy document includes further guidance on determining if a worker is eligible under the Settlement for all or most of their work. The following steps will assist a provider making that determination.
If a worker’s job title/job description is a care and support worker, they are eligible.
In the vast majority of cases the classification of the worker will be obvious from the job title/ job description. Workers are eligible if they have job titles/job descriptions that identify them as care and support workers. It is presumed that their title or description identifies that they provide care and support services.
If a workers job title/job description is not a care and support worker, they are eligible if they spend more than 50% of their time providing care and support services.
It is accepted that job titles/job descriptions differ across the sector, so the presumption that a worker’s job title/job description identifies that they provide care and support services may not determine eligibility if a worker’s job title/job description is not a care and support worker. In those cases, a provider must decide if the worker provides care and support services for more than half of their work. If they do, the worker will be eligible even if they undertake other work that is incidental to their care and support duties.
If an employee’s job title/job description is not a care and support worker, and they do not provide care and support services for more than half of their work, they are not eligible.
Workers are not eligible if they have job titles/job descriptions that are specifically excluded by the Settlement Agreement, even if those workers undertake some care and support services that are incidental to their core work. While it is difficult to provide an exhaustive list of such job titles/job descriptions, the Settlement Agreement (footnotes 47 and 48) identifies the following workers whose primary purpose of their work is not providing care and support services - any health practitioner registered under and in accordance with the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, supervisors, cleaners, cooks, and office workers.
Some workers may be eligible for only part of the care and support services they provide.
If a worker is eligible, they may be entitled to the minimum hourly wages for all or part of the care and support services they provide. A provider will have to decide if some of the services are excluded from entitlement. There are clearly distinguishable excluded services and other services which are not clearly distinguishable and are considered to be incidental care and support services. Please see the operational policy document for more information.
Updated operational policy document
The Ministry has updated the operational policy document for CRL providers. It is available on our website here. Please review this latest version and refer to it as a guide for implementation.
Casual employees
‘Casual employee’ isn’t defined in employment legislation, but the term is usually used to refer to a situation where the employee has no guaranteed hours of work, no regular pattern of work, and no ongoing expectation of employment. Casual employees are included in the pay equity Settlement if they meet the multi-step eligibility criteria below:
1. First, is to determine whether the service is covered by the Settlement Agreement;
2. Second, is to test whether the worker is within scope of the Settlement Agreement;
3. Third, the service is funded by public monies not private.
If due to the substance of a role, an employer believes that some of their casual employees are in fact permanent part-time employees with continuous service (including getting professional employment relations advice), the employer would need to document the decision supported by appropriate documentation: providers will need to provide supporting evidence of fact, including legitimate expectation of work, absence or presence of predictability and regularity, length of the arrangement, payment of holiday, date on which each employee’s status changed from casual to permanent part-time. Any such evidence would be required as per the record-keeping obligations of the Act and to be available during audit.
Calculating length of service
Casual employment is not included when calculating length of service. Guidance on what is casual employment can be found on the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment website.
Paying employees for union ratification meetings
The ability of all care and support workers (union members and non-union members) to have the opportunity to vote in the ratification process for the Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement Agreement is fundamental to the settlement. The Ministry of Health is supporting the implementation of the ratification process and in good faith encourages all employers to comply with this process.
Although the Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement Bill has now received Royal Assent, the ability of all care and support workers to vote in the ratification process remains important.
The Government will reimburse employers for wages at the rate of $25 per care and support worker verified by the union and the employer as having attended a ratification meeting. Claim forms must be submitted to the Ministry, please download the form here: http://www.health.govt.nz/new-zealand-health-system/care-and-support-workers-pay-equity-settlement/pay-equity-settlement-information-providers.
161 ratification declaration claims have been received to date for 3,432 employees. Claims received before 12 June have been scheduled for payment on next Tuesday 20 June.
For claims received after 12 June, the Ministry will aim to process them within ten business days. All claims must be received by 14 July.
Key dates
· By 24 May 2017: CRL providers had to submit completed Data Collection Tools.
· From 1 July 2017: The Care and Support Worker (Pay Equity) Settlement Act comes into effect. Providers have a legal obligation to ensure employees receive their increased wages in the first pay day from their employer (ie, weekly or fortnightly, depending on their normal pay run).
· From 1 July 2017: Providers will advise funders that they have commenced making payments to employees. Unions will also play a role in ensuring that employees have received the new wages.
· By 14 July 2017: All ratification claims must be submitted to the Ministry. Further information on the process to claim for an employee’s time to attend a union ratification meeting is available by downloading the ratification meeting claim form on this webpage.
Frequently asked questions
1. How do I know if certain workers and/or certain services are eligible?
A multi-step decision process needs to be used to assess eligibility of any particular worker:
· Determine whether the service is covered by the Settlement Agreement; and
· Test whether the worker is within scope of the Settlement Agreement.
· Establish whether the service is funded by public funding not private.
We recommend you look at the eligibility information in the Settlement Agreement that can be downloaded from this webpage http://www.health.govt.nz/new-zealand-health-system/care-and-support-workers-pay-equity-settlement and section 3 of the Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement operational policy document that can be downloaded from this webpage http://www.health.govt.nz/new-zealand-health-system/care-and-support-workers-pay-equity-settlement/pay-equity-settlement-information-providers.
2. What types of work does the Settlement not cover?
Settlement parties agreed that the settlement does not include behavioural support services, caregiver support, child development services, environmental support, funded family care, mental health services, and services arranged privately by clients. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Social Development and Ministry for Vulnerable Children Oranga Tamariki have agreed in principle to enter into negotiations with unions and providers on the basis that vocational and disability workers they fund will be covered by terms consistent with the Settlement Agreement.
3. What if some of my employees hold qualifications other than the NZQA levels 2, 3 or 4 New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing?
This information is updated regularly. For the latest, please see the Careerforce website at: www.careerforce.org.nz/pay-equity/equivalencies.
4. Are diversional therapists and/or activity co-ordinators eligible?
Diversional therapists and/or activity co-ordinators are eligible under the Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement.
We understand that different organisations use different terminology, including activity co-ordinators, activity officers, diversional therapists, and possibly other titles.
These workers are eligible, providing they also meet the following multi-step process below:
1. First, is to determine whether the service is covered by the Settlement Agreement; and
2. Second, is to test whether the worker is within scope of the Settlement Agreement.
3. Third, the service is funded by public monies not private.
We recommend you look at the eligibility information in section 3 of the draft Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement operational policy document and the Settlement Agreement. The Settlement Agreement is available for download at this webpage: http://www.health.govt.nz/new-zealand-health-system/care-and-support-workers-pay-equity-settlement
5. Some of my employees perform services that are in scope some of the time, and services that are out scope some of the time. How do I determine their accurate pay rate?
Some employees can be receiving more than one pay rate. Employers must pay the in scope services at the appropriate pay band when work is performed on these services. Out of scope services pay rates are a business decision for the provider. If these are at a separate rate, then this should be reflected with dual rates in a pay roll system.
6. What pay band should an existing staff member with 12 years or more current continuous service but no qualifications be moved to after 1 July?
All existing care and support workers who reach 12 years current continuous service with their employer after 1 July 2017 and who have not achieved a Level 4 Certificate will move on to the following rates unless there are genuine reasons based on reasonable grounds that the employee’s employer did not provide the support necessary for the employee to achieve the Level 4 qualification, in which case the employee will be entitled to move to the Level 4 step above. Any dispute about the provision of the necessary support will be dealt with through the normal dispute resolution processes.
$22.50 / $23.50 / $24.50 / $26.00
Frequently asked questions can be found in employer factsheet which is on the Ministry website http://www.health.govt.nz/new-zealand-health-system/care-and-support-workers-pay-equity-settlement.
Contact the pay equity implementation team
There is a dedicated pay equity implementation email address, , which you can send questions to at any time. Someone from our team will respond to you as soon as possible.
For more information visit health.govt.nz.
16 June 2017
Pay Equity Settlement Implementation 6