Employers are bracing for record employee absences as the latest highly contagious omicron subvariants are expected to cause sickness similar to the January wave.
Employers are bracing for record sick leave over the next month, with absences already running at 50 per cent above average levels, as the highly contagious BA.4 and BA.5 variants drive a new wave of infections and hospitalisation.
More than a third of aged care shifts went unfilled in NSW in the month. The national rate for aged care was 14.5 per cent. Seven per cent of retail shifts went unfilled, with the highest rates present in Western Australia and NSW . Hospital admissions have leapt by more 1000 in the past 10 days to 4000, with admissions forecast to rise across the country to well above 5000.
“People who test positive to COVID-19 more than 28 days after ending isolation due to previous infection should be reported and managed as new cases,” the communiqué said. The chief executive of the Australian Retailers Association, Paul Zahra, said discontinuing the leave payment “couldn’t come at a worse time”.
“This leaves understaffed businesses with little option but to reduce output or even close down temporarily,” Mr McKellar said.