This article forms part of our series of blogs covering the National Employment Standards (NES). These are the minimum terms of employment that apply to those Australian workers who are part of the National Workplace Relations System (which is the vast majority of workers, refer here for more details), regardless of whether or not they are covered by an Award.
Whilst employers and employees can agree to terms that supplement the NES, they cannot provide for conditions that are less than the NES or the national minimum wage. The NES cannot be excluded, modified, or reduced; they form part of the “safety net” that covers the majority of Australian workers.
What is Personal/Carer’s Leave and What are the Entitlements?
Full-time and part-time employees generally have an entitlement to Personal/Carer’s Leave (often called Sick / Carer’s Leave), when they can’t work as a result or a personal illness or injury, OR where they need to care for or support a member of their immediate family or household who is sick, injured, or has an unexpected emergency.
The total entitlement (regardless of whether leave is taken due to personal illness/injury, or to care for another person/attend to an unexpected emergency) is 10 days per annum for full-time employees, and pro-rata for part-time employees (calculated as 1/26 of an employee’s ordinary hours of work in a year).
Full-time and part-time employees accumulate Personal/Carer’s Leave during each year of their employment. It commences accumulating from their first day of work. Any unused balance carries over into the next year.
Personal/Carer’s Leave continues to accumulate during paid leave and community service leave. It does not accumulate during most types of unpaid leave.
Unpaid Carer’s Leave is only available if paid Personal/Carer’s Leave has been exhausted.
Employees are required to advise their employer ASAP of the need to access Personal/Carer’s Leave. If their employer requests it, an employee taking Personal/Carer’s Leave is also required to provide reasonable evidence (such as a medical certificate or Statutory Declaration), that the leave is being accessed for the purpose intended.
We recommend that requirements to provide notification of absences, and provide evidence relating to absences, be clearly defined in a policy or procedure which is effectively communicated to all staff.
For the purposes of Personal/Carer’s Leave, an “immediate family member” includes a:
- spouse or former spouse
- de facto partner or former de facto partner
- child
- parent
- grandparent
- grandchild
- sibling, or
- child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the employee’s spouse or de facto partner (or former spouse or de facto partner).
The definition includes step-relations (for example, step-parents and step-children) as well as adoptive relations.
A “household member” is any person who lives with the employee.
A casual employee has no entitlement to paid Personal/Carer’s leave,. They do however have an entitlement to 2 days unpaid Carer’s Leave, per occasion.
Importantly, Personal Leave is only applicable when the person is unfit for work. As such, it is not ordinarily an entitlement that a person can access, for example, to attend planned medical appointments where they are not unfit or injured (eg. a regular dental checkup). These would ordinarily be accessed through annual leave, accrued time in lieu or unpaid leave, depending on the policy of the business.
What is Compassionate Leave and What are the Entitlements?
An employee, including a casual employee, is entitled to 2 days of Compassionate Leave (sometimes also called Bereavement Leave), per occasion, if:
- a member of their immediate family or household dies, or contracts or develops a life-threatening illness or injury
- a baby in their immediate family or household is stillborn
- they have a miscarriage, or
- their current spouse or de facto partner has a miscarriage.
The meanings of “immediate family” and “household member” are generally the same as for Personal/Carer’s Leave (as above).
An employee is entitled to access compassionate leave for each occasion as:
- a single continuous 2-day period or
- 2 separate periods of one day each or
- other separate periods to which the employee and their employer agree.
Compassionate Leave does not accumulate and it’s a separate entitlement to Personal/Carer’s leave.
Full-time and part-time employees are entitled to be paid at their base pay rate for Compassionate Leave, while Compassionate Leave is unpaid for casual employees
Employees are required to provide notice of the need to take Compassionate Leave ASAP, and their employer may request reasonable evidence of the reasons for the absence. Again, we recommend that requirements of the business be clearly defined in a policy or procedure which is effectively communicated to staff.
Note that Awards, enterprise agreements and other registered agreements may provide additional entitlements to Personal/Carer’s and/or Compassionate Leave (though they cannot be less than the minimum entitlements outlined above).
Need Further Support?
If you need further information or assistance to understand and meet your obligations as an employer, and/or you would like us to draft suitable policies for your business, feel free to contact us to discuss the options.
This article provides general information which we believe to be correct at the time of posting. It is a summary and must not be considered complete, professional or legal advice. If you’re an employer and need support that takes into account your particular circumstances, please contact us directly.
