From next year, employees will be able to access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period. This includes casual and part-time employees.
Key Points
All employees in the Fair Work system (including part-time and casual employees) will be entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period. This new entitlement will replace the existing entitlement to 5 days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave under the National Employment Standards.
Employees will be entitled to the full 10 days upfront, meaning they won’t have to accumulate it over time. The leave won't accumulate from year to year if it isn’t used.
The new leave entitlement will be available from:
1 February 2023, for employees of non-small business employers
1 August 2023, for employees of small business employers.
Employees can still access 5 days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave until the new paid leave entitlement becomes available to them. Find out more about unpaid family and domestic violence leave.
Read on for information about how this leave will work when it comes into effect.
How the leave renews
The leave renews every year on each employee's work anniversary. It doesn’t accumulate from year to year if it isn’t used.
Employees who start on or after the date that the paid leave entitlement becomes available at their new workplace can access the full 10 days from their first day. The leave will renew on their work anniversary.
Employees who are already employed when the paid leave entitlement starts in their workplace can access the full 10 days on the relevant start date. The leave then renews on the anniversary of when they started working for that employer (not on the anniversary of the relevant start date).
Example: Employee starts work before the paid leave entitlement comes into effect Marg started work with her employer on 19 December 2020. On 1 February 2023, her employer has more than 15 employees so Marg is entitled to the new paid leave from 1 February 2023. Marg will be able to access the full 10 days from that date. Her leave balance will renew on her work anniversary (19 December).
Example: Employee starts work after the paid leave entitlement comes into effect Gina starts work with a small business employer on 18 September 2023. From this date, Gina can access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. Gina's entitlement will renew on 18 September each year.
Taking family and domestic violence leave
Employees (including part-time and casual employees) can take paid family and domestic violence leave if they need to do something to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence and it’s not practical for them to do so during their work hours.
This could include, for example, the employee:
making arrangements for their safety, or the safety of a close relative (including relocation)
attending court hearings
accessing police services
attending counselling
attending appointments with medical, financial or legal professionals.
Meaning of family and domestic violence
Under the new provisions, family and domestic violence means violent, threatening or other abusive behaviour by an employee’s close relative, a current or former intimate partner, or a member of their household that both:
seeks to coerce or control the employee
causes them harm or fear.
A close relative is:
an employee's
spouse or former spouse
de facto 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 or Torres Strait Islander kinship rules.
Payment for leave
Full-time and part-time employees can take paid family and domestic violence leave at their full pay rate for the hours they would have worked if they weren't on leave.
Casual employees will be paid at their full pay rate for the hours they were rostered to work in the period they took leave.
An employee's full pay rate is their base rate plus any:
incentive-based payments and bonuses
loadings
monetary allowances
overtime or penalty rates
any other separately identifiable amounts.
Example: Casual employee payment for leave Demi is a casual employee in a fast-food outlet. Demi needs to take 5 days of leave from Monday to Friday one week to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence. During the 5 days Demi takes leave, she is rostered to work 25 ordinary hours. Demi’s employer needs to pay Demi her base pay rate plus 25% casual loading for the 25 hours Demi was rostered to work that week. Demi also needs to be paid any other loadings, allowances or other amounts that she would have been paid if she'd worked her rostered hours. Demi’s balance of paid family and domestic violence leave is reduced by 5 days (until it renews on her annual work anniversary).
Example: Payment for leave at full pay rate Riley is a full-time retail assistant, and their hours of work are 9am to 5pm, Wednesday to Sunday. Riley needs to take 5 days of leave one week to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence. Riley needs to be paid their base pay rate for all hours they would have worked, plus the penalty rates that applied for those hours. Under the Retail Award, this is:
a 25% penalty rate for working 9am to 5pm on Saturday
a 50% penalty rate for working 9am to 5pm on Sunday.
Riley also needs to be paid any other loadings, allowances or other amounts that they would have been paid if they'd worked instead of taking leave.
Riley's balance of paid family and domestic violence leave is reduced by 5 days (until it renews on their work anniversary).
Interaction with other paid leave
An employee can use paid family and domestic violence leave during a period of paid personal/carer’s or annual leave. If this happens, the employee is no longer on the other form of paid leave and is taking paid family and domestic violence leave instead. The employee needs to give their employer the required notice and evidence.
Notice and evidence requirements
If an employee takes paid family and domestic violence leave, they have to let their employer know as soon as possible. This could be after the leave has started. An employer can ask their employee for evidence to show that the employee needs to do something to deal with family and domestic violence and it’s not practical to do that outside their hours of work.
An employer can only use this information to satisfy themselves that the employee is entitled to family and domestic violence leave, unless:
the employee consents
the employer is required to deal with the information by law, or
it’s necessary to protect the life, health or safety of the employee or another person.
The employer can't use the information for other purposes, including to take adverse action against the employee.
All other rules about notice and evidence are the same as the currents rules for taking unpaid family and domestic violence leave.
Find out more about the current rules at Notice & evidence for family and domestic violence leave.
If you need guidance regarding the new domestic violence paid leave rules, please don't hesitate to contact us. It would be our pleasure to help you.
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