Leave in Australia

There are 7 national public holidays in Australia and additional state and territory public holidays. Holidays that fall on weekends are generally observed on the Monday after.

Depending on the Modern Award, enterprise agreement or employment contract, employees who are working on a public holiday could be entitled to one of the following:

• Public holiday pay rate
• An extra day off or additional annual leave
• Minimum shift lengths on public holidays
• Substituting a public holiday for another day

All employees have a right not to work on public holidays; however, employers can ask them to work if the request is reasonable. Employees, in turn, can refuse it if they have their own reasonable grounds.

An employee doesn’t get paid for a public holiday if they don’t usually work on the day that the public holiday falls on.

Referred to as sick and carer’s leave, this leave entitles employees to 10 days per year of paid time off that can be used during sickness or when taking care of a family member. The employer funds the break. Any untaken sick leave from a given year is added to the next. This means that if an employee only takes five sick days in a given year, they will be granted 15 the following. However, accumulated sick leave is not paid out at the end of employment.

Employers can request evidence that the employee took the leave for the right reasons with the following documents:

• A medical certificate
• A statutory declaration

A massive set of improvements to the Paid Parental Leave Amendment came into force in 2023, which applies to all children born after July 1st, 2023. That includes combining the existing maximum 18 weeks’ parental leave pay with the existing two weeks’ father and partner pay to provide a single 20-week (100 days) scheme, repealing the concept of a fixed 12-week parental leave pay period and the requirement to not return to work in order to be eligible for this block of leave, while leaving the provisions providing for flexible parental leave pay days.

Employees are entitled to unpaid 12 months leave and can request an additional 12 months off, which can only be refused by employers on reasonable business grounds. To be eligible for the parental leave, the employee must have 12 months of continuous service as of the expected date of birth or the adoption. The allowance comes regardless of how much the other spouse or partner takes, which means an employee couple could take unpaid parental leave at the same time.

Pregnant employees can start the leave up to 6 weeks before the expected date of delivery. The employee who isn’t pregnant can take parental leave at any time within 24 months of the birth or placement of the child, and it must end within 24 months of the birth or placement of the child.

Of that leave, the primary carer of a newborn or adopted child from 1 July 2023 is entitled to 20 weeks payment at the national minimum wage.

Employees are entitled to the same job they had before going on leave. If an employee’s job no longer exists or has significantly changed, they must be offered suitable alternative employment. If the employee’s job no longer exists, they may be entitled to redundancy.

If an employee has a pregnancy-related illness or her pregnancy ends after 12 weeks because of miscarriage or stillbirth, she may be entitled to special maternity leave.

Employees who adopt a child under the age of 16 are entitled to the same parental leave. They are also entitled to two days of unpaid pre-adoption leave to attend interviews or examinations required for the adoption.

Employees are entitled to two days of paid compassionate leave if an employee’s immediate family member is seriously ill or dies. Immediate family is an employee’s:

• Spouse
• De facto partner
• Child
• Parent
• Grandparent
• Grandchild
• Sibling
• Child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of their spouse or de facto partner

Employees can take compassionate leave for other relatives (e.g. cousins, aunts and uncles) if they are a member of the employee’s household, or if the employer agrees to this.

Full-time employees are entitled to ten days paid personal leave per year, which can be used as sick or carer’s leave.

Employees with work-related injuries may be eligible for payments under their employer’s workers’ compensation schemes. All employers must have workers’ compensation insurance for their Australian employees.

Unique to Australia, employees who have spent between 5-10 years with the same company are entitled to paid leave that varies from 2 to 3 months, depending on the state or territory, as follows:

• Australian Capital Territory – 6.066 weeks on full pay after each period of 7 years of continuous service.
• New South Wales – 2 months (8.67 weeks) paid leave after ten years’ continuous service. One month leave for each subsequent five years of continuous service. The legislation also provides for a pro-rata entitlement after five years, if the employer has terminated an employee’s employment for any reason other than serious and wilful misconduct, or if the employee dies.
• Northern Territory – 13 weeks on full pay after each period of 10 years of continuous service.
• Queensland – 8.6667 weeks on full pay after each period of 10 years of continuous service. The legislation also provides for a pro-rata payment on termination (subject to criteria) between 7 and 10 years of continuous service.
• South Australia – 13 weeks on full pay after each period of 10 years of continuous service. The legislation also provides for a pro-rata payment on termination (subject to criteria) after seven years of continuous service.
• Tasmania – 8⅔ weeks paid leave after completing ten years of continuous employment and 4⅓ weeks of leave after each additional five years of continuous work
• Victoria – accrues at a rate of one week for every 60 weeks of continuous employment (approximately 0.866 weeks per year), and can be taken any time after seven years’ continuous service.
• Western Australia – 8.667 weeks on full pay after each period of 10 years of continuous service. The legislation also provides for a pro-rata payment on termination (subject to criteria) after seven years of continuous service.

When an employee ceases work with an employer, they are entitled to be paid the amount of leave entitlement not taken on termination on a pro-rata basis if they have worked the minimum period of service.

Long service leave entitlement by state and territory.

Employees are entitled to 10 days of paid leave each year (some companies elect to provide paid leave) in case they have been subjected to family and/or domestic violence.

Family and domestic violence refer to violent, threatening or other abusive behaviour by an employee’s close relative that seeks to coerce, control or cause them harm or fear. A close relative is an employee’s spouse, de facto partner, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling or in-laws.

Employees can take community service leave for voluntary emergency management activities (unpaid) or jury duty (paid). An employee is considered to be part of voluntary emergency management if:

• The activity provides relief in an emergency or a natural disaster
• The employee participates in the activity voluntarily
• The employee was either requested to help or would have been asked to do so if circumstances allowed
• The employee is a member of or is associated with a recognised emergency management body

An employee is entitled to take community service leave while they are engaged in the activity and for reasonable travel and rest time. There is no limit on the amount of community service leave an employee can take.

Employees must give their employers notice of the absence as soon as possible and the period or expected period of absence. Employers may request the employee to provide evidence that they’re entitled to community service leave.