Fair Work Australia has released on their website that they will soon be amending the Fair Work Act to introduce paid family and domestic violence leave. This blog summarises the key points of this new leave entitlement as outlined by Fair Work Australia.
This new entitlement will be available as of February 1, 2023, for employees of non-small business employers. This enables small businesses an extra six months to adjust to the change, before the start date August 1, 2023, for the remaining employees.
All part-time and casual employees within the Fair Work System, will be able to access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period. This will then replace the current entitlement to 5 days of unpaid family and domestic leave under the National Employment Standards.
Employees can claim the full 10 days upfront, which means they will not need to accumulate it over time. However, the leave will not accumulate from year to year if it has not been used.
Currently, employees can claim 5 days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave until the new paid leave entitlement is accessible. For more information about these measures’ unpaid family and domestic violence leave click here.
Continue reading for more information regarding how this new leave entitlement will come into effect.
How the leave renews?
The leave is renewed every year on each employees work anniversary – marks an employee’s first day of the job. However, it does not accumulate from year to year if you do not use it.
Employees will have access to the full 10 days, depending on whether they start on or after the date of this new paid leave entitlement. This leave balance will be renewed on their work anniversary.
For employees who were employed prior to the starting date of the new paid leave entitlement, they can access the full 10 days on the relevant start date. However, the leave will renew on their work anniversary, not on the anniversary of the relevant start date.
Taking family and domestic violence leave
All part-time and casual employees can claim this paid family and domestic violence leave, if is unpractical for them to do so during their work hours or if they need to take further action to deal with the family and domestic violence situation.
This may include, but is not limited to the employee:
- Accessing police services
- Attending appointments (medical, financial or legal)
- Attending counselling
- Relocating or making safer arrangements for themselves and/or others
Meaning of family and domestic violence
Family and domestic violence refers to the violent acts and/or other threatening behaviours that generally occur between close relatives, a current or former partner or member/s of their household that both coerce and/or seek fear from another.
A close relative can refer to:
- An employee’s
- Spouse or former spouse
- De factor partner or former de facto partner
- Child
- Parent
- Grandparent
- Grandchild
- Sibling
- A child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of an employee’s current or former spouse or de fact partner, or
- A person related to the employee according to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kinship rules
Payment for leave
Paid family and domestic violence leave for full-time and part-time employees will be paid at their full pay rate for the hours they would have worked that week.
Casual employees will also be paid at their full pay rate for the hours they were essentially rostered to work for that period they booked their leave.
An employees full pay rate includes their base rate plus others, such as: incentive-based payments and bonuses, loadings, monetary allowances, overtime or penalty rates and any other separately identifiable amounts.
Interaction with other paid leave
Employees are able to use paid family and domestic violence leave even during the period of paid personal/carer’s or annual leave. In this case, will then take paid family and domestic violence leave instead of the other ford or paid leave. The employee is required to notify their employer and supply the necessary evidence to support their claim.
Notice and evidence requirements
If an employee takes paid family and domestic violence leave, they must let their employer know as soon as possible. An employer will request evidence from their employee to show that their employee needs to take further action to deal with family and domestic violence, especially if its not practical for them to do outside their work hours.
An employer can only use this information to satisfy themselves that their employee is entitled to family and domestic violence leave, only if:
- The employee consents
- The employers deals with the information by law or
- If its necessary to protect the safety of the employee or another person involved.
The employer cannot act against the employee or use the information for other purposes.
All the previous rules about notice and evidence under the previous unpaid family and domestic violence leave will continue for the new entitlement.
Find out more about the current rules regarding notice and evidence for family and domestic violence leave.
Support services
Confidential information, counselling and support for people impacted by family and domestic violence can access the 1800 RESPECT website, for further counselling services.
For information about these measure click here.