Low-paid mums lose thousands
Some of Australia's lowest paid female workers will be up to $11,000 worse off because of Tony Abbott's changes to paid parental leave.
While the Government has focused on public servants "double dipping" taxpayer and employer-funded leave, the changes will also hurt thousands of shop assistants.
An investigation by The Weekend West has found that checkout operators at Woolworths will lose $6550. Coles checkout operators will lose $6376 and Ikea workers will be $11,539 worse off.
To save $1 billion, the Government wants to stop parents receiving taxpayer-funded paid parental leave if their employer offers an equivalent amount or more from July next year.
If employer leave is less than $11,539, Canberra will top it up.
The Government claims mostly higher-income earners in public service or corporate jobs will be affected.
But thousands of retail workers will also be hit because of the interaction with their employers' schemes.
A full-time checkout operator with Woolworths earning $42,570 a year currently gets eight weeks paid leave of $6550 as well as 18 weeks of taxpayer-funded PPL at the minimum wage, worth $11,539.
Under the revamp, she would still get $6550 from Woolworths but only $4988 from taxpayers.
Woolworths said 2200 staff accessed its company scheme last year.
A store manager with fashion chain Noni B earning $44,668 a year now gets 13 weeks of leave worth $11,167 from the company plus $11,539 from Canberra.
The new rules would see her receive just a $371 top-up, leaving her $11,000 worse off.
An Ikea worker earning $43,000 who receives 26 weeks leave would lose all of the $11,539 government payment.
All up, the changes would mean 79,000 workers in the private and public sectors would lose some or all of their government PPL.
Wesfarmers said it was too early to say whether it would modify its schemes, which include Coles and Bunnings, in response.
"Many of our retail employees are not in high pay brackets and the impact of no longer receiving both the government and employer- funder PPL payments could obviously have a significant financial impact on them during their time away from work," a spokeswoman said.
President of advocacy group Chief Executive Women, Diane Smith-Gander, called on the Government to consider providing the full $11,500 to women earning below a cut-off such as $40,000 or $50,000.
"It's very clear that someone on a low income is unlikely to have the savings to be able to support having six months off," she said.
Kinross retail worker Brittany Taylor-Scott said two lots of paid leave allowed her to spend more time at home with eight-month-old son Logan.
"I know people who have had to go back when their baby is just two months old," she said.
Some Federal ministers have recognised adjustments may be needed for low-paid workers, such as grandfathering existing entitlements.
Social Services Minister Scott Morrison said an evaluation showed the taxpayer-funded scheme was not achieving its goal of allowing parents to spend more time with their baby.
Shop assistants union WA secretary Peter O'Keefe said the Government's overhaul was a backward step for female workers.
"I had hoped that over the next few years we would see improvement in the scheme, not reductions," he said.
