Employee Leave Entitlement Legal Advice

The National Employment Standards (the NES) provide the minimum conditions for all employees who are covered by the national workplace relation system. Minimum leave entitlements are included within the NES and apply to all eligible permanent employees.

The NES accounts for different types of leave entitlements including; annual leave, sick and carer’s leave (personal leave), family & domestic violence leave, compassionate leave, maternity leave, long service leave and community service leave.

Leave Entitlements

All employees, except casuals, are entitled to 4 weeks of annual leave, 10 days of paid and 2 days of unpaid personal leave and 2 days of paid compassionate leave which accrues annually. Most parents are entitled to unpaid parental leave however, eligible parents may apply for 18 weeks of government-funded parental leave.

An employee gets long service leave after a long period of working for the same employer. Most employees’ entitlement to long service leave comes from long service leave laws in each state or territory. In Victoria, an employee can request to take long service leave at any time after 7 years’ continuous employment.

Upon resignation or termination of employment, an employee is entitled to a payment of all outstanding annual and long service leave.

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Frequently asked leave entitlements questions
What is my rate of pay while I am on annual leave?

Employees are entitled to their usual rate of pay while they are on leave unless their modern award, contract or agreement stipulates that they are entitled to more than their base rate.

Can my employer force me to take leave?

The general rule is that employers are entitled to direct employees to take annual leave where the request is reasonable. This includes situations where the employee has accrued excessive annual leave or the employer’s operations are temporarily shut down.

Do I need to provide a medical certificate when I am on sick leave?

Under section 107(3) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), employees must provide their employer with evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person that sick leave was taken for reasons of personal illness or injury. This typically involves providing a medical certificate to verify the employee is unfit for work. Provided that such evidence is produced, employers must accept that the employee has validly taken sick leave.

Can I accrue annual leave entitlements while I am receiving worker’s compensation payments?

Section 130(1) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) prevents an employee from taking or accruing any leave, whether paid or unpaid, during a “compensation period” when the employee is absent from work because of a personal injury, for which the employee is receiving compensation payable under a law that is about worker’s compensation.

However, an exception to this rule arises in section 130(2) of the Act which allows the above employee to take or accrue leave during the compensation period if the taking or accruing of leave is permitted by a compensation law.

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