The Federal Government has passed a new bill which will replace the existing laws around family and domestic violence leave. Employees will be entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. This leave will be paid for by employers and will be available to full-time, part-time and casual workers.
Unlike other leave entitlements, the 10-day entitlement does not accrue or accumulate year to year and will be available immediately upon first starting in a position. The leave renews every year on the employee’s work anniversary (the date they started work for the employer). For existing employees, they will become entitled to the full 10 days as soon as the law takes effect and the leave will renew on their work anniversary.
These changes will take effect from 1 February 2023 for large businesses (businesses with 15 or more employees) and from 1 August 2023 for small businesses. As this payment is funded by employers, small businesses will likely require more time to budget for this entitlement. Employees will be able to take the paid family and domestic violence leave if they:
- experience family and domestic violence; and
- need to do something to deal with the impact of that violence; and
- it is impractical to do that thing outside their ordinary hours of work.
Under these new laws, family and domestic violence means violent, threatening or other abusive behaviour by an employee’s close relative, a current or former intimate partner, or a member of their household that both seeks to coerce or control the employee and causes them harm or fear.
There has also been a change to the examples of what constitutes an action by an employee experiencing family and domestic violence under this leave entitlement. It now includes arranging for the safety of the employee or a close relative (including relocation), attending court hearings, accessing police services, attending counselling and attending appointments with medical, financial or legal professionals.
As with any other leave entitlement, there will be a requirement for evidence to be provided to the employer prior to being paid. This evidence would need to satisfy a reasonable person that the employee needs to take Family and Domestic Violence Leave. As this can be complex, the MTA’s Workplace Relations team are available to discuss each situation and confirm the required evidence for particular scenarios.
As this leave is available for casual workers, it is important to mention that they will only be paid for the shifts they were actually rostered to work. For example, if a casual worker was rostered on for 3 days in a week and they were unable to make those shifts due to a domestic or family violence situation, they are only entitled to be paid for those 3 days from their 10-day balance. They are able to take further time off but will only be paid for the days/times they were actually rostered to work.
Payment for Family and Domestic Violence Leave will be at the employee’s full rate of pay, worked out as if the employee had not taken the period of leave, not the base rate of pay which is normally applicable to leave entitlements. This will apply to casuals as well, but only for the hours they were rostered to work.
There are also new rules around pay slip requirements. Employers must not include any mention of paid family and domestic violence leave on their payslips such as any leave taken or leave balances. Employers must still keep a record of leave balances and any of this leave taken by their employees, but their payslip must not mention this type of leave in order to reduce the risk to an employee’s safety when accessing this leave.
Businesses are advised to start drafting or amending existing policies around the paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave in preparation for the new laws. Employment contracts may also need to be amended to reflect additional leave.
For more assistance in this area, or if you have any questions relating to this new legislation, please contact the MTA Workplace Relations Team on (08) 8291 2000 or email wr@mtasant.com.au