Mercy Community -Where is your Compassion and Integrity?

 
In late 2022, Mercy advised our Union of the significant underpayment of wages and entitlements where Mercy had failed to correctly pay a large number of current and past employees. Mercy advised our Union in 2022 that the wage remediation will likely take place by the end of 2023. We are now at the end of 2023 and as we edge into Christmas there is still no outcome or timeframes on when Mercy employees will receive their owed money.

Employees this year are not only anxiously waiting for the payment of their rightful entitlements but have also had to contend with Mercy changing rosters, proposing redundancies, cutting hours, and failing to consult with employees. Time and time again throughout these major changes, we have seen no consideration for long term employees who genuinely require flexibility in the workplace because of their families, disability or age. We don’t think that this aligns with Mercy’s values of compassion, integrity, dignity and empowerment.

Our Union wrote to Acting CEO Justin Lorenz to seek an update on the situation. Mr Lorenz did not reply to us however we were provided an update by Mercy’s Chief People Officer.

This is what we currently know:
  • Remediation payments will not be made before Christmas.
  • It is unknown when remediation payments will be made.
  • Mercy is continuing to work with the Fair Work Ombudsmen on the matter and our Union welcomes their involvement.
  • An employee will only be eligible for a remediation payment if one of the Enterprise Agreements (Mercy Disability Services Enterprise Agreement 2010 and the Mercy Family Services Enterprise Agreement 2011) was incorrectly applied to their employment and they were paid less overall than they would have been paid under the correct Award.
  • If it is identified that an employee has been overpaid, Mercy will not seek any repayment of the identified overpayment.
  • For non-transferring Family Services employees who were advised that their position will be made partially redundant, Mercy have provided no indication about when they may proceed with this however Mercy have committed to continuing to pay the ‘top up’ wage until a decision is made.
Our Union will continue to keep Mercy accountable and will keep members updated on this process. Our Union is by your side and we will continue to be by your side in 2024.

If you have any questions regarding this, please contact Services Connect on 07 3844 5300 to speak with an Industrial Officer.



Above: ASU is the Union fighting for our members at Mercy Community.