Queensland nurses win back pay for unpaid RATs before shifts

Aged care nurses in Queensland who were required to take on-site Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) before their shifts will share in $45,000 worth of back pay after a successful action by the Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union (QNMU). The nurses, who worked at Wongaburra Aged Care Facility near Beaudesert in the Scenic Rim, were required to either arrive 15 minutes early every day to take a RAT before their paid shifts commenced, or perform a RAT on the clock and have their pay docked for the time taken. According to QNMU Secretary Beth Mohle (pictured), the settlement – reached minutes before a Fair Work Commission (FWC) hearing was to commence – will set a “valuable precedent” for aged care workers in Queensland who have been made to take unpaid RATs before their shifts.

“Hard-working aged care workers in Queensland’s 400-plus private aged care facilities cannot be made to perform RAT test in their own time. Anything an employer requires an employee to do is work, for which the employer must pay wages. That’s the law. “The QNMU is determined to ensure all aged care employers are properly paying their staff for time spent performing tests associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. If they aren’t, the QNMU will seek to ensure all aged care nursing staff are properly compensated,” she said.

The QNMU is also among the unions pushing for a 25% aged care worker pay rise at the FWC.