Following the recent Federal Court decision, the Fair Work Ombudsman is reviewing and updating its advice in relation to the accrual of personal/carer’s leave. So, as business owners, what do you need to be mindful of moving forward?
- Full-time and part-time employees are entitled to 10 working days of paid personal/carer’s leave for each year of employment.
- The leave protects those employees’ income when they are entitled to be absent from work.
- The leave must be calculated in working days, not hours. A working day is the portion of a 24 hour period that an employee would otherwise be working.
- An employee’s entitlement is expressly based upon time working for the employer and is expressly calculated in days.
- For every day of personal/carer’s leave taken, an employer deducts a day from the employee’s accrued leave balance. If an employee takes a part-day of leave, then an equivalent part-day is deducted from the employee’s accrued leave balance.Details are currently being updated on the Fair Work website.Do you have questions about the accrual of personal/carer’s leave for your employees? Contact our resident HR expert, Lisa.