Understanding Personal/Carer’s Leave

An employee can use personal leave for when they’re sick or injured. Personal leave must only be used when that sickness or injury prevents them from carrying out their normal work duties.

Personal leave is not intended to be used for a holiday or because the employee simply wants a day off work.

An employer has the right to request evidence of an employee’s illness or injury for any occasion the employee has requested personal leave.

Yes. Personal carer’s leave does accumulate throughout the year. This indicates that an employee is not automatically credited with 10 days when they start working.

At the end of each year, any outstanding balance of leave not taken, will carry over into the next year.

In the event that the employee takes more days off then they have accrued, they will only be paid for the days accumulated. The rest of the absence would usually be unpaid leave unless there is an agreement to take a different form of paid leave.

Personal/Carer’s leave is intended to be used when an employee is sick or injured, or to care for sick or injured family member.

Annual leave is intended to be used by employees to take a holiday or time off work.

Permanent full-time employees will receive 10 days of personal leave and 4 weeks of annual leave per year of service. Part-time employees and permanent employees working variable hours receive a pro-rated amount based on their ordinary hours of work.

Casual employees are not entitled to paid personal/carer’s or paid annual leave. 

Permanent full-time employees are entitled to accrue 10 days of paid personal leave per year of service. Part-time employees and permanent employees working variable hours receive accrue paid personal leave at the rate of 1/26^th  of their ordinary hours worked in a given period.

If an employee falls sick and has run out of sick leave, they can still request to take a day off work. An employer is not obligated to pay the employee in this circumstance. This is called unpaid leave.

Casual employees aren’t entitled to paid sick leave.

In theory, an employee can be on unpaid sick leave indefinitely. If an employee has to take leave from work due to a serious or long illness, employers must allow the employee leave from work.

However, the Fair Work Act 2009 has provisions for dismissing an employee in some circumstances when they have been away from work for longer than three consecutive months, or for a combined period of more than three months in a twelve-month period.

The best option may be to cover for an employee on a long-term absence is to make a temporary hire or re-jig your current staff roster to make up for the absence.

For any absence on sick leave, an employer can request reasonable evidence. Reasonably evidence may include, but is not limited to, a medical certificate, doctor’s letter or a statutory declaration.

If an employee wishes to take the day off to care for a relative, an employer can also request evidence of this.

No. In the situation where carer’s leave is taken in line with the Fair Work Act 2009, an employer cannot refuse for an employee to take time off.

However, an employee may not be paid carer’s leave under certain circumstances.

For example, if the employee is requesting leave for a member who is not their immediately family or a household member, this is usually unpaid.

It may also be the case that the employee is not paid in the circumstances where notice and evidence is not provided.

An employer can request for evidence for an absence on personal carer’s leave. The Fair Work Act 2009 indicates that the evidence must satisfy a reasonable person that the leave was taken for an illness or injury. This may include a medical certificate or a statutory declaration.

When requested to provide evidence, this request must be completed within a reasonable time frame.

On the face of it, an employer has to accept a doctor’s certificate as legitimate. The same will generally apply if a medical certificate is not provided by a GP but is provided by another suitable source such as a certificate provided by a pharmacist for minor ailments.

An employer can reject a medical certificate from a medical practitioner only in exceptional circumstances. For instance, if the employer believes that the medical certificate is fraudulent.

There may also be occasions where the employer requires further information, such as in the case of a return to work from injury to ensure the safety of their employees. In these cases, it may be necessary to seek further information from the employee or medical practitioner to ensure the employee is fit for their duties.

Compassionate leave is a separate entitlement. As such, compassionate leave does not come out of an employee’s personal or annual leave balance.

If an employee is already on personal leave, they can take compassionate leave if they need it instead of personal leave

Compassionate leave is paid for full- and part-time employees, and unpaid for casuals.

Full-time and part-time employees are paid at their base rate of pay for the hours they would have worked on the day they take the leave.

Paid compassionate leave generally does not include other entitlements such as loading, bonuses or penalty rates.

It also is not paid out when an employee leaves a business.

Compassionate leave, unlike other leave entitlements, does not accrue. Rather it is triggered in the event of an immediate family or household member’s death or contracting a life-threatening illness or injury.

Employees are allowed two days of compassionate leave which can be taken as a two-day period, or as two separate days.

An employee can take compassionate leave any time they need it.