Pay simplification for SAS staff – revised version
Pay simplification for SAS staff revised version – May 2016 (PDF version)
The Department of Education (DoE) has written to the PSA to advise a new payroll system will be introduced in 2017. The DoE proposal will align long-term temporary (LTT) SAS Staff with permanent SAS Staff.
What is the pay/leave simplification proposal?
Currently, LTT SAS Staff leave calculations for stand-down pay over school vacation periods requires the staff member to work both school terms either side of the vacation. For this, LTT SAS Staff receive half pay during school vacations. Due to the complexity of the calculations involved, sometimes errors occur, which result in over- or underpayments.
The DoE pay/leave simplification proposal means a small amount of the LTT SAS Staff hourly pay will be reserved to cover payment of your normal pay during school holidays.
This means LTT SAS Staff fortnightly pays during school term will be adjusted to the permanent rate. Your hourly rate will be the same as that paid to permanent staff. You will then receive a constant rate of pay for 26 equal fortnightly pays each year.
For example, if your normal pay as a LTT SAS Staff is two days per week, a small amount of your fortnightly pay will be reserved by the Department. This reserved amount is then paid to the LTT SAS Staff during school holidays. In this example, the LTT will receive 26 equal pays of two days per week – including during the school holidays.
In support of its proposal, the DoE says that this will, in the long run, make LTT SAS Staff budgeting easier for its employees because the pays will be equal each fortnight.
The DoE converted permanent SAS Staff to this leave accrual system in 1987. Permanent SAS Staff have commented favourably to the change once it was implemented and found it easier to budget with 26 equalised pays in a year.
The PSA’s Schools Department Committee (DC) of state-wide Schools Delegates at its March 2016 meeting considered the DoE Pay/Leave simplification proposals. The Schools DC PSA Delegates recommended that the PSA accept the DoE Pay/Leave Simplification proposal on behalf of PSA members.
Changes to Maternity Leave which spans two terms
The DoE pay/leave simplification proposal also affects all SAS Staff who wish to take paid maternity leave which spans two school terms with a holiday in between. The pay/leave simplification proposal will provide for extra paid time off when you take paid maternity leave.
Current model
In the current model, where maternity leave crosses a vacation period, the vacation is paid and counts as part of your maternity leave as per the following example:
Maternity leave commencing 23 February 2015 (14 weeks of normal pay)
23 February through to 29 May 2015 – Total paid maternity leave = 14 weeks. Total time off on your normal pay = 14 weeks.
Proposed model
In the proposed model, as vacation leave is changing to an accrual system based on time worked, if maternity leave crosses a vacation period, the vacation period is not counted towards the maternity leave entitlement. It becomes a paid vacation. This is because the period of maternity leave will be considered as “worked” and would accrue towards vacation pay.
The DoE proposal extends the period of the maternity leave as the vacation “breaks” the maternity leave and maternity leave “resumes” on the first day of the next school term.
Maternity leave will only count for school weeks. Vacation leave is now added to the time off. No pay is lost by SAS Staff on maternity leave. See the following example:
Maternity leave commencing 23 February 2015 (14 weeks normal pay)
23 February through to 12 June 2015 – Total paid maternity leave = 14 weeks plus two weeks paid holidays. Total time off on your normal pay = 16 weeks.
As permanent SAS Staff have been working under this pay/leave arrangement since 1987, the PSA has no reason to believe that LTT SAS Staff would be worse off over a year. You will receive 26 equal pays for each year irrespective of whether it is school term or school vacation. With the change to the maternity leave spanning school terms, PSA members will have the advantage of extra paid time to spend with their new baby.
PSA letter to DOE can be view HERE
You can view the full DoE proposal HERE
