AN120387 – Nursing Homes, &C., Nurses' (State) Award
(i) Subject to the following limitations and conditions, an employee shall be entitled to sick leave on full pay calculated by allowing 76 rostered ordinary hours of work for each year of continuous service, les s any sick leave on full pay already taken.
(a) An employee during his/her first year of employment with an employer shall be entitled to sick leave at the rate of 7.6 hours at the end of each of the first five months continuous service. Upon completion of six months continuous service the employee shall be entitled to a further 38 hours sick leave. For the purpose of this subclause, where service is continuous, each new entitlement will accrue at the monthly anniversary date of the commencement of employment, i.e., a person starting on 6 March would be entitled to their first 7.6 hours on 6 April.
(b) An employee shall not be entitled to sick leave on full pay for any period in respect of which such employee is entitled to workers' compensation; provided, however, that an employer shall pay to an employee who has sick leave entitlement under this clause, the difference between the amount received as workers' compensation and full pay. The employee's sick leave entitlement under this clause shall, for each week during which such difference is paid, be reduced by that proportion of 38 hours which the difference paid bears to full pay.
(c) All periods of sickness shall be certified to by the Director of Nursing of the facility or by the employee's own legally qualified medical practitioner. The employer may dispense with the requirements of a medical certificate when the absence does not exceed two consecutive days or where, in the employer's opinion, the circumstances are such as not to warrant such requirement.
(d) Each employee shall notify her/his employer of an absence from work due to illness or injury prior to the commencement of her/his rostered shift or as soon as practicable thereafter and shall, as far as possible, inform the employer of the estimated duration of the absence.
(e) For the purpose of determining a full-time employee's sick leave credit as at 19 September 1986, sick leave entitlement shall be proportioned on the basis of 76:80.
(ii) The employer shall not change the rostered hours of work of an employee fixed by the roster or rosters applicable to the 14 days immediately following the commencement of sick leave merely by reason of the fact that she or he is on sick leave.
(iii) For the purpose of this clause, "service" means - service in the employment of an employer.
(iv) For the purpose of this clause, continuity of service in the employment shall not be broken by:
(a) absences from such employment on account of illness;
(b) absences from such employment for the purposes of pursuing a post-graduate course in nursing (i.e. a course which results in obtaining a certificate, diploma or qualifications whether in Australia or elsewhere) and where the course is pursued outside Australia an employee shall be deemed to be absent for the purpose of pursuing the course throughout the time reasonably occupied travelling to the place of study and return to Australia, the actual duration of the course, a period of three months after completion of the course before returning to Australia and a period of one month after returning to Australia, provided that subclauses (iii) and (iv) shall only apply to persons employed in facilities conducted by members of the Aged & Community Services Association of NSW & ACT Incorporated.
(v) Permanent Part-time Employees - A permanent part-time employee shall be entitled to sick leave in the same proportion of 76 hours as the average weekly hours worked over the preceding 12 months or from the time of commencement of employment, whichever is the lesser, bears to 38 ordinary hours. Such entitlements shall be subject to all the above conditions applying to full-time employees.
(vi) With respect to an employee who is eligible for sick leave and who produces a satisfactory medical certificate to the effect that he/she has been incapacitated for a period of at least one week's duration while on annual leave, the employer may re -credit such employee with an equivalent period of annual leave, provided that no such re-crediting shall be granted to an employee on leave prior to retirement, resignation or termination of services and provided further the employer is satisfied on the circumstances and the nature of the incapacity.
(vii) Subject to the provision of a satisfactory medical certificate and sick leave being due, extended or long service leave shall be re-credited where an illness of at least one week's duration occurs during the period of extended or long service leave; provided that the period of leave does not occur prior to retirement, resignation or termination of services.
