High Court case to highlight discrimination between private and public aged care providers

A High Court case set down for hearing in Auckland next week will highlight differences in government funding of private aged care providers and funding for caregivers in hospitals run by District Health Boards, the New Zealand Aged Care Association says.

The NZACA, along with Business New Zealand and the Council of Trade Unions, is intervening in the case of Bartlett v TerraNova Homes and Care Ltd.

The CEO of the NZACA, Martin Taylor, says that while on the face of it the case appears to be about employment conditions of one Provider, the reality is with Ms Bartlett being funded by the Service and Food Workers’ Union (SFWU), the case is between the Union and all of New Zealand’s aged care providers.

The SFWU seeks a ruling that Ms Bartlett has been discriminated against because her pay is lower than a males if they did the same or similar work in aged care or a comparable role in another industry.

The outcome of the case could have huge ramifications on the aged care industry, potentially costing it hundreds of millions of dollars if the union succeeds in this action.

Mr Taylor said “Discrimination does not exist in aged residential care on the basis of gender, but I can say categorically that discrimination does exist in the health sector based on whether you are a private sector caregiver or a public sector caregiver,”

“It’s well known DHBs are funded to pay their caregivers at around $18 per hour while our funding only supports an average wage of around $15 per hour.”

“Successive governments have paid caregivers in DHB-owned and operated hospitals and aged-care facilities at a higher level than they fund private providers. That’s where the discrimination lies and it’s at the heart of disparities between those caregivers employed in the public sector and those in the private sector. That’s why our association has been advocating for pay equity since 2005.”

“It also needs to be clearly understood TerraNova Homes and Care Ltd does nothing different to most other aged-care providers. It pays around the industry average of just under $15 per hour, and has a pay scale based on performance and training.”

We believe this case will prove TerraNova has not discriminated on the basis of gender, but rather that private aged-care providers need increased government funding so that caregivers can be paid the same rate as those employed in DHB facilities,” Mr Taylor said.

“Like all aged care providers, TerraNova would like to pay caregivers at the same rate as that offered by DHBs, but government funding does not make that realistic. This reality was highlighted in the government-funded 2010 Grant Thornton Aged Care Service Review, which found the sector was hugely underfunded.”

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