Bosses Infected With SARS Hysteria

Some of Australia’s biggest employers are attempting to force workers to foot the bill for increased precautions to deal with the SARS virus.

Westpac, ANZ, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Macquarie Bank, Telstra, Lend Lease, Singapore Airlines and HSBC are among the corporate giants enforcing quarantine periods for staff travelling to Asia.

Meanwhile, the Finance Sector Union this week outed two major banks - Westpac and ANZ - who were requiring staff to take 10 days leave, accessing their own sick or annual leave entitlements. If such leave is exhausted, the leave is decreed as unpaid.

ANZ reversed this decision after the story went public, but a number of other employers are still asking workers to carry the can.

Meanwhile, SBS is requiring all reporters who have been on assignment in SARS-affected regions to stay home, being forced to take the time out of their annual leave.

NSW Health Department officials this week briefed union officials on the risk, confirming that forced 10 day stand downs of workers travelling to Asia were not necessary.

Chief Health officer Greg Stewart told unions that only staff exhibiting flu-like symptoms returning from high-risk areas should be quarantined. He said general stand-downs need only apply to health workers.

NSW Labor Council secretary John Robertson says its time for employers to take a reality check.

"We have health experts telling us to be alert but not alarmed - maybe these are the people who should be setting the policy and not a bunch of SARS enthusiasts in the HR Department," Robertson says.

"The bottom line is that employers should be the one's to bear the cost of any increased precautions - not the workers."

This article appears in issue 177 of Workers Online at http://www.workers.labor.net.au

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Last modified: Tuesday, 15-Nov-2005 20:37:33 EST