Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave
Visit https://www.aitkenlegal.com.au to find out more and SUBSCRIBE for more employment law tips.
Employees across Australia, who are employed by non-small business employers, are entitled to family and domestic violence leave. Small business employees will also be able to access the new paid leave entitlement from 1 August 2023. The new paid leave is available to all types of employees, including casuals.
I'm Hamish Procter from Aitken Legal, and in this video, I discuss the key aspects of this important paid leave and outline what employers need to be aware of.
Under the Fair Work Act, the meaning of family and domestic violence has three elements. Family and domestic violence means:
1. violent, threatening or other abusive behaviour,
2. by a person who is an employee's close relative, a member of the employee's household, or a current or former intimate partner,
3. that seeks to coerce or control the employee, or causes them harm or fear.
An employee can take up to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave per year. They can take this leave when they need to do something to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence and it is impractical for them to do that thing outside of work hours.
For example, an employee may use this leave to
a. make arrangements for their safety;
b. attend court hearings;
c. access police services;
d. attend counselling; or
e. attend appointments with medical, financial or legal professionals.
An employee’s 10-day entitlement is available in full on the first day of their employment and resets every 12 months, but does not accumulate from year to year if it is unused.
Employees are entitled to be paid at the full rate of pay they would have received if they had worked. This includes amounts that can be calculated in advance with a reasonable degree of certainty, such as overtime rates, penalty rates and some allowances.
Casual employees will be entitled to paid family and domestic violence leave for hours of work which have been offered by the employer and accepted by the employee at the time of taking the leave. If a casual employee has not accepted any hours which have been offered, then they may be entitled to unpaid family and domestic violence leave.
Employers can ask for evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person that the employee took the leave to deal with the impacts of family and domestic violence and it was impractical to do so during work hours. This may include evidence such as a statutory declaration, or documents issued by the police, a court, a doctor or lawyer.
An employer must take reasonable steps to keep information about an employee’s access of family and domestic violence leave, including supporting evidence, confidential. Currently, an employer can record the leave either as ordinary hours or another type of payment such as ‘special leave’ or ‘general leave’. However, after 4 June 2023 an employer must not indicate on a pay slip that an employee took leave, and must record the leave as a payment for performing work.
If you require assistance in responding to an employee’s request to take paid family and domestic violence leave, contact our experienced employment lawyers at Aitken Legal.
#familyanddomesticviolenceleave #paidleave #employmentlaw #employmentlawyer