4.0 LEAVE
4.1 Annual Leave
Employees (other than casuals) are entitled to four weeks of paid annual leave for every 12 months of continuous service, pro-rata for part-time staff, in line with the NES unless otherwise stated in their contract. Annual leave is paid at the employee’s normal base rate, unless the contract specifies otherwise.
Staff are encouraged to take their full leave entitlement within the current year. All requests must be submitted through TANDA and approved by management before making any firm holiday arrangements. You must also have enough leave accrued to cover the entire period you wish to take.
Generally, at least four weeks’ notice should be given when applying for annual leave. Requests are usually approved on a first-come, first-served basis, while still ensuring the business can operate efficiently and meet staffing requirements. During peak trading periods, annual leave may not be approved.
4.2 Public Holidays
- Employees are entitled to public holidays in line with the NES, unless otherwise stated in their individual contract of employment.
- Employees may be required to work on a public holiday if the request is reasonable.
4.3 Personal Leave
4.3.1 Entitlements
- Employees (other than casuals) are entitled to paid personal leave under the NES. Casuals are not entitled to paid personal leave.
- Paid personal leave accrues progressively over the course of employment, up to 10 days per year of continuous service.
- Unused personal leave does not pay out on termination.
- You may take personal leave:
- If you are unfit for work due to personal illness or injury.
- To care for or support an immediate family or household member affected by:
- illness or injury, or
- a sudden/unexpected emergency.
- If paid personal leave is exhausted, you may take 2 days of unpaid carer’s leave per occasion.
Immediate family includes spouse, de facto partner, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or equivalent relatives of a spouse/de facto. Household member means anyone who lives with you.
4.3.2 Notification of Personal Leave
- As per attendance 3.5.1
- You must notify each day of absence unless covered by a medical certificate.
- If absence extends beyond 7 days, you must update your employer weekly unless otherwise agreed.
- Management needs to text the management crew of illness
4.3.3 Evidence
- A medical certificate (or statutory declaration if impractical) is required when leave is:
- 3+ consecutive days, or
- a single day before/after a weekend, public holiday or rostered day off.
- Or if your current leave balance is exhausted
- The employer may require evidence for any absence (including carer’s leave).
4.3.4 Return to Work
- Notify your manager of your return date as soon as possible.
- On return, you may be required to attend a return-to-work interview to confirm health/fitness.
- A fitness-for-work certificate may be required, especially after workplace injury/illness.
- If recovering from an infectious/contagious illness (e.g. rubella, hepatitis), you must provide medical clearance before returning.
4.3.5 Evidence
- A medical certificate alone may not justify absence; repeated absences may be considered unacceptable.
- Excessive or non-genuine absence will result in disciplinary action.
- The employer reserves the right to:
- seek permission to contact your doctor, or
- require an independent medical examination.
4.4 Parental Leave
If you or your partner become pregnant or are notified of a match date for adoption purposes, you should notify management at an early stage so that your entitlements and obligations can be explained to you.
Under the NES, employees who will have at least 12 months of continuous service as at the expected date of birth of the child or placement of the child, are entitled to 12 months of unpaid parental leave. Casuals with at least 12 months of service on a regular and systematic basis with a reasonable expectation of continuing work with the Employer on a regular and systematic basis had it not been for the birth or adoption of the child are also entitled to unpaid parental leave. You may request up to an additional 12 months of leave which will only be refused by the Employer on reasonable business grounds after discussion with the Employer, a genuine attempt to reach an agreement about any extension, and consideration of the consequences of refusal for you. Any request to extend unpaid parental leave must be made to the Employer at least four weeks before the end of the available parental leave period.
Other forms of leave, such as annual leave and long service leave, may be taken concurrently with parental leave, but when combined with the unpaid parental leave must not exceed the 12-month period.
When advising of your intention to take unpaid parental leave you must provide the following:
· a medical certificate indicating the expected date of birth of the child, or, where the leave is adoption-related, the expected date of placement
· an expected return date, and
· for a child born or adopted before 1 July 2023 - details of any parental leave your partner intends to take.
You may be entitled to government funded parental leave. For further details, eligibility criteria and to apply for this payment please refer to Services Australia. Please notify management if you require any assistance or document from the Employer in support of an application for government funded paid parental leave.
Flexible unpaid parental leave
Child born or placed for adoption before 1 July 2023
You may take up to 30 days of your entitlement to parental leave as unpaid flexible parental leave. Flexible unpaid parental leave can be taken in a single continuous period of one or more days, or separate periods of one or more days each. Flexible unpaid parental leave can be used in the 24-month period from the date of birth or placement of the child and comes out of the entitlement to 12-months of unpaid parental leave. Ten weeks’ notice is required for flexible unpaid parental leave. This can be done in accordance with the Employer’s parental leave notification form.
You may take up to eight weeks of unpaid parental leave at the same time as the other parent. Concurrent parental leave can be taken as one continuous period, separate periods of at least two weeks, or shorter separate periods as agreed with the Employer.
Child born or placed for adoption on or after 1 July 2023
You may take up to 100 days (or a higher number depending on the birth or placement of the child) of unpaid flexible parental leave in the 24-month period from the date of birth or day placement. If you are a pregnant employee, you are entitled to take flexible unpaid parental leave in the 6 weeks prior to the expected date of birth of the child. Flexible unpaid parental leave is available to full-time, part‑time and casual employees.
Generally, 10 weeks’ notice is required for flexible unpaid parental leave, however if the only period of leave covered by the notice is flexible unpaid parental leave, then the notice may be given at any later time if the employer agrees. This can be done in accordance with the Employer’s parental leave notification form. The notice must specify the total number of days (flexible days) of the flexible unpaid parental leave you will be taking. Additionally, you must confirm the specific dates of the flexible parental leave days at least 4 weeks prior to the intended leave dates, or as soon as practicable.
The limitation on employee couples taking concurrent leave has also been removed. If you are a member of an employee couple, you can access flexible unpaid parental leave regardless of the amount of leave your partner has taken.
The amount of parental leave that can be taken as flexible unpaid parental leave depends on when the child is born or placed for adoption:
· Between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024 – up to 100 days
· Between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025 – up to 110 days
· Between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026 – up to 120 days
· On or after 1 July 2026 – up to 130 days.
4.5 Compassionate Leave
- Full-time and part-time employees are entitled to 2 days paid leave per occasion if:
- A member of their immediate family/household has a life-threatening illness or injury
- A member of their immediate family/household dies
- A child is stillborn
- The employee, or their spouse/de facto partner, suffers a miscarriage
- Casual employees are entitled to 2 days unpaid leave per occasion.
4.6 Long Service Leave
Under the WA Long Service Leave Act 1958, all employees (full-time, part-time, and casual) are entitled to long service leave.
- After 10 years of continuous service, you receive 8.67 weeks of paid leave.
- For every 5 years after that, you receive an additional 4.33 weeks.
- If you leave after 7 years but before 10 years (unless dismissed for serious misconduct), you may be entitled to pro-rata leave.
- Leave is paid at your ordinary rate of pay (excluding penalties and overtime).
- It should be taken as soon as practicable after entitlement and may be split into periods of at least 1 week, with reasonable notice.
|
Service Period |
Entitlement |
|
10 years |
8.67 weeks leave |
|
Each additional 5 years |
4.33 weeks leave |
|
7–10 years (termination) |
Pro-rata leave |
4.7 Community Service Leave
Emergency Service Leave
Employees can take unpaid leave to participate in a voluntary emergency management activity, such as responding to a fire, flood, cyclone, or other disaster.
To be eligible:
- The activity must be with a recognised emergency service organisation (e.g. SES, Red Cross, St John Ambulance, Surf Life Saving).
- The work must be voluntary and not part of the employee’s normal role.
- The employee must notify the business as soon as possible and provide evidence if requested.
Employees may request to use accrued annual leave if they want this time to be paid.
Jury Duty
- Jury duty is a type of community service leave under the NES.
- All employees (including casuals) can take leave to attend jury service, including jury selection, travel, and rest time.
- Employees must notify the business as soon as possible and provide evidence of attendance and any court payments if requested.
Pay:
- Full-time and part-time employees: For the first 10 days, the business must pay “make-up pay” (the difference between base pay for ordinary hours and any jury duty payments from the court).
- After 10 days, jury duty leave is unpaid, unless otherwise provided under an award, agreement, or contract.
- Casual employees: Jury duty leave is unpaid.
4.8 Family and Domestic Violence Leave
- Employees are entitled to 10 days paid leave per year if experiencing violent, threatening, or abusive behaviour from a family member.
- This leave may be taken when it is impractical to deal with the situation outside work hours (e.g., arranging safety, attending court, contacting police).
- Family member includes immediate family, extended family, and Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander kinship relations.
- Leave resets on the anniversary of commencement each year.
- Notice should be given as soon as practicable. Evidence (e.g., police/court documents, support service statement, or statutory declaration) may be required.
- All information will be kept confidential, subject to legal obligations.
4.9 Appointments
- Time off for medical/dental appointments or other reasons should be arranged outside work hours where possible.
- If unavoidable, paid leave must be used before unpaid leave.
- Unpaid leave may only be accessed once annual and/or personal leave is exhausted, depending on the reason.
- Preferably at least 48 hours’ notice is required.