The Employment Court has ruled that disability support workers are working when doing ’sleepover’ shifts and should be paid at least the minimum adult wage for all of that time. The Service and Food Workers Union and the Public Service Association brought the case to court on behalf of thousands of workers in the disability, mental health and aged care sectors who work overnight shifts where they are allowed to sleep, but frequnetly have to get up to preform tasks that the court said were ‘weighty’ and ‘critical to the business of the employer.’

The case involved disability support worker Phil Dickson who works at an IHC community house that is home to five service users with intellectual disabilities. As part of his job Mr Dickson does ’sleepover’ shifts from 10pm to 7am for which he’s paid $34. This amounts to $3.77 an hour, less than a third of the minimum adult wage of $12.50 an hour. Now he and other workers in the sector will be paid for every hour they are at work. John Ryall of the Service and Food Workers Union described the ruling as a “significant and historic decision”.

The court’s ruling is in line with decisions on similar cases heard in North America and Europe. Theose cases all defined work as time spent on-call or sleeping, when the worker is required to be at work and to be available immediately to do their job. Richard Wagstaff of the Public Service Association says that “The government must take notice of this decision,” noting that “it needs to ensure employers have the funding they need to pay disability support workers, and others working ’sleepover shifts’, at least the minimum wage.”