Leave entitlements

What types of leave do employees get?

Annual leave


Under the National Employment Standards, all employees are entitled to four weeks of annual leave. Certain shift workers are entitled to an additional week’s leave. The appropriate modern award will explain how this additional entitlement is calculated if it is relevant. Modern awards also provide for a 17.5% annual leave loading.


Annual leave is now accrued on a regular basis. This means that an employee does not have to complete twelve months of service to take annual leave, as they accrue it on an ongoing basis during the year. By mutual agreement, an employee may take a portion of their leave, once they have accrued an entitlement to it. For example after 3 months of service, you may allow an employee to take one week of their leave.

Personal/carer's and compassionate leave


Sick leave is now called personal/carer’s leave. The ten day per year entitlement of each worker accrues on a regular basis – this means that employees do not get their sick leave entitlement on commencement, they accrue it on an ongoing basis during the year. This leave can be used when the employee is sick or when an immediate family member is sick and needs to be cared for by the employee. The leave entitlement keeps accruing for as long as the employee works for you. The untaken leave is not paid out on termination of employment.


Two days of paid compassionate leave applies on each occasion when an immediate family or household member has a serious illness, serious injury or dies. Casual employees have access to two days of unpaid compassionate leave in these circumstances.



Public holidays


Standard public holidays continue to apply to all employees, plus any day gazetted by the state government as an additional public holiday. For example, local show days and additional days at Christmas. Employees are entitled to a paid day off work if a public holiday falls on the day they would normally work. You may ask an employee to work on a public holiday if the request is reasonable. However, an employee may also refuse to work on reasonable grounds such as family responsibilities.

Parental leave


Twelve months of unpaid parental leave is an entitlement under the National Employment Standards for employees who have at least 12 months of continuous service. This may also include some casual employees who work on a regular basis with the expectation of ongoing employment. An employee also has a right to request an additional 12 months of leave, which can only be refused on reasonable business grounds.

Paid Parental Leave


Legislation for the Paid Parental Leave scheme was passed by Parliament on 17 June 2010.


The Paid Parental Leave scheme will be fully funded by the Australian Government.


The Fair Work Ombudsman can enforce an employer’s obligations under the Paid Parental Leave scheme, and will investigate related complaints. The Fair Work Ombudsman may also impose penalties for breaches of these obligations.


If you have any enquiries regarding the paid parental leave scheme please contact the Family Assistance Office.

Long service leave


Most employees in the home building industry are covered by the provisions of the Long Service Corporation. Employers do not pay direct contributions for their employees in NSW. The scheme is financed by a levy on building and construction works in NSW and is paid by the owners of building and construction projects before they commence construction work. Where a builder or developer sells a building after its construction, the levy is usually passed on to the new building owners as part of the sale price.


Employees in New South Wales are entitled to two months of long service leave after ten years service, with an additional month of leave after every five year period.


Got a question regarding your Long Service Leave in the building industry? Contact the Long Service Corporation on 131 441 or visit their website.



Community service leave


Community service leave is a new entitlement under the National Employment Standards. It is to cover eligible community service activities such as dealing with an emergency or natural disaster. An eligible employee is entitled to unpaid leave for the period of the actual activity and associated reasonable travel time and/or rest time immediately following the activity.


This leave also applies when an employee is called up for jury service. In these circumstances the employee is entitled to make up pay refers to the employer paying an employee the difference between their base rate of pay and the total amount of jury service pay they receive a maximum of ten days. An employer can request suitable evidence of attendance.


An employee must give suitable notice to their employer as soon as reasonably practicable and indicate how long they expect to be absent from work.



Ref: http://www.industrialrelations.nsw.gov.au/oirwww/Industries_and_Awards/Home_building_online_guide/Leave_entitlements.page

More clarification


What we mean when we say immediate family

Carer’s leave and compassionate leave are types of leave that can be taken in relation to a member of an employee’s immediate family or a member of an employee’s household.
How do we define family?

The definition of an immediate family member includes:
spouse
de facto partner
child
parent
grandparent
grandchild
sibling, or
child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the employee's spouse or de facto partner


This definition includes step-relations, for example step-parents and step-children. The employee does not need to live with their immediate family member for them to meet the definition.

Ref: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/news-and-media-releases/newsletter/april-2016/what-we-mean-when-we-say-immediate-family