Personal leave (incorporating sick leave and carer's leave)

Employees may take personal leave:

• to recover from personal illness or injury
• to care for members of their 'immediate family or household*' who are sick and require care and support; or
• to care for members of their immediate family or household who require care due to an unexpected emergency.

*The term 'immediate family or household member' includes:

• a spouse / partner;
• a relative of the employee or employee’s spouse / partner including:
  (a) a child (including adopted, step or ex-nuptial);
  (b) a parent (including foster, step or legal guardian);
  (c) a grandparent;
  (d) a grandchild; or
  (e) a sibling or step sibling; and
• any person who usually resides with the employee.

Entitlement

• Full time permanent employees
• Part time employees
• Fixed term employees
• Casual employees
• Taking personal leave for personal injury or sickness
• Length of personal leave
• Giving notice to the department
• Medical certificates and other evidence
• Taking personal leave to care for family or household member
• Length of personal leave
• Giving notice to the department
• Medical certificates and other evidence
• Unpaid personal leave
• Workers compensation restrictions
• Misuse of personal leave entitlements
• Legislation

Entitlement

Full time permanent employees

Personal leave accrues according to your length of service. Permanent employees receive personal leave entitlements in advance, every three years (trienniums). When a new triennium begins, the leave balance remaining from the previous triennium is replaced with a new amount of leave as per the table below. These trienniums are augmented by five-year and 10-year additional entitlements.

The following table indicates the maximum personal leave entitlements for a full time permanent employee based on continuous years of service.

Part time employees

Part time employees are entitled to the same personal leave credits as full time employees but on a pro-rata basis. Payment for personal leave will only be made for those hours that would normally have been worked if the employee had not been on Personal Leave.

Fixed term employees

After 20 working days of service, full time fixed term employees are credited in advance with 10 days leave for each full year of service.

A fixed term employee who is engaged for a period less than 12 months continuous service is credited with personal leave in proportion to the period of engagement compared to 12 months.

Unused personal leave credits accumulate and carry forward each year.

If personal leave with full pay is exhausted in any personal leave year (defined as 12 months of continuous paid employment including periods of paid leave), Personal leave without pay is available provided the absences are certified by a registered health practitioner.

A period of personal leave does not extend the period of employment.

A fixed term employee who has completed:

• 12 months continuous service and is likely to complete a further three years continuous service; or
• four years continuous service;

is entitled to personal leave as if he or she were a permanent employee.

Conversion from fixed term to permanent employment status

A fixed term employee who becomes permanent is entitled to personal leave as if they had been appointed as a permanent employee on their first day of continuous service.

If the employee would have received a greater entitlement to personal leave on full pay as a fixed term employee, he or she is able to access that entitlement. Once that entitlement to personal leave on full pay is exhausted, Personal leave at half pay or without pay is available as indicated in the triennium table above.

Casual employees

Casual employees can take unpaid time off work, or be absent from work to care for members of their immediate family or household who are sick and require care and support, or who require care due to an unexpected emergency.

The casual employee must discuss their leave requirements with their manager and agree on the period they’ll be away from work. If no agreement is reached, the employee can be absent for up to two working days per occasion. The casual employee will not be paid while he or she is absent from work.

Taking personal leave for personal injury or sickness

Length of personal leave

Employees may use the full amount of available personal leave due to illness or injury.

Giving notice to the department

Unless there are exceptional circumstances you must let the Department know, within two hours of your normal starting time, that you won’t be attending work, and as far as practicable, the nature of the injury or illness and the length of time you are likely to be away from work.

Medical certificates and other evidence

If you request personal leave for injury or sickness you will need to provide a medical certificate from a registered health practitioner, or other evidence, stating that you are/were unable to attend work on the day or days you were away.

If you are absent for three or more consecutive days and don’t provide a medical certificate the third and subsequent days will be unpaid.

If you have accumulated five days of personal leave absence without a medical certificate in a personal leave year (defined as 12 months of continuous paid employment including periods of paid leave), you must supply a medical certificate in order to be paid for subsequent days off.

Medical certificates

Medical certificates can now be accepted from the following registered health practitioners for illness/injury within their chosen field of practice:

• medical doctors including general practitioners, specialists and surgeons;
• chiropractors;
• dentists;
• nurses/midwives;
• osteopaths;
• pharmacists;
• physiotherapists;
• psychologists;
• dental prosthetics/specialist (Tasmanian only);
• optometrists (Tasmanian only);
• podiatrists (Tasmanian only); and
• radiation technologists (Tasmanian only).

Other evidence

A statutory declaration from an employee is acceptable where it is not reasonably practicable for that employee to obtain a medical certificate; except where you are absent for three consecutive days or more, or you have accumulated five days of personal leave without a medical certificate as outlined in the above paragraph titled Medical Certificates as other evidence.

Taking personal leave to care for an immediate family or household member

Length of personal leave

Employees are allowed up to 10 days personal leave each personal leave year to care for members of their immediate family or household who are sick and require care or who require care due to an unexpected emergency. In exceptional circumstances an employee may use an additional amount of their accrued personal leave by agreement with the department.

In normal circumstances an employee should not take leave for caring purposes where another person has taken leave to care for the same person.

Giving notice to the department

As far as practicable you should give the department:

• notice of your intention to take leave;
• the name of the person requiring care and their relationship to you;
• the reasons for taking the leave; and
• the estimated length of absence.

If it is not practicable to give notice of your absence, you must notify the department at the earliest opportunity and provide an estimate of the length of leave required.

Medical certificates and other evidence

An employee must prove to the satisfaction of the department that they are/were unable to attend duty on the day or days on which they claim personal leave, for example by providing a medical certificate from a registered health practitioner stating the illness of the person concerned and that such illness requires their care.

In the case of an unexpected emergency an employee must provide documentation acceptable to the department stating the nature of the emergency and that it resulted in the person concerned requiring their care.

If it is not reasonably practicable to give the Department a medical certificate a statutory declaration will suffice, stating:

• the illness of the person concerned or the nature of the emergency; and
• that the illness or emergency requires your care.

Unpaid personal leave

Where an employee has exhausted all paid personal leave entitlements, they are entitled to take unpaid personal leave to care for members of their immediate family or household who are sick and require care and support or who require care due to an expected emergency. A medical certificate or statutory declaration is required as detailed above. The department and the employee will agree on the period of leave. In the absence of an agreement, the employee is entitled to take up to two working days per occasion.

Workers compensation restrictions

An employee is not entitled to take paid personal leave while he or she is receiving workers compensation.

Misuse of personal leave entitlements

Personal leave for illness or injury will not be granted to an employee who is suspected of being absent from duty without sufficient cause. The department may direct an employee to undergo a medical examination by a registered health practitioner selected and paid for by the Department at any reasonable time and place and with reasonable notice.

Legislation

General Conditions of Employment Award No. 3 of 2008 (Consolidated), Part VI clause 3