AN120387 – Nursing Homes, &C., Nurses' (State) Award
(i) In general, compassionate leave with pay should be granted only in extraordinary or emergent circumstances where a member of the staff of a facility is forced to absent himself/herself from duty because of urgent pressing necessity, and such leave as is granted should be limited to the time necessary to cover the immediate emergency.
(ii) Any absence occasioned by personal exigencies which might fairly be regarded as an obligation on the employee rather than the employer to make good, should be covered by the grant of leave without pay or, if the employee so desires, charged against his/her annual leave credit.
(iii) The following basic principles should be kept in mind when dealing with applications:
(a)
(i) An employee, other than a casual employee, shall be entitled to a maximum of two days compassionate leave without deduction of pay, on each occasion of the death of a person as prescribed in subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph. Provided that, where the employee is involved in funeral arrangements, travelling, etc., leave may be allowed for up to three days.
(ii) The employee must notify the employer as soon as practicable of the intention to take compassionate leave and will, if required by the employer, provide, to the satisfaction of the employer, proof of death.
(iii) Compassionate leave shall be available to the employee in respect to the death of a person prescribed for the purposes of personal/carer's leave as set out in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (c) of subclause (1) of clause 27, Personal/Carers Leave, provided that, for the purpose of compassionate leave, the employee need not have been responsible for the care of the person concerned.
(iv) An employee shall not be entitled to compassionate leave under this clause during any period in respect of which the employee has been granted other leave.
(v) Compassionate leave may be taken in conjunction with other leave available under subclauses (2), (3), (4), (5) and (6) of the said clause 27. In determining such a request, the employer will give consideration to the circumstances of the employee and the reasonable operational requirements of the business.
(b) Illnesses in the family - Except in very special circumstances, leave with pay should be limited to one day which, as a general rule, would prove sufficient time to meet the immediate emergency and allow the employee to make any other arrangements necessary. It would be expected that no one but the employee would be available to care for the sick member of the family.
(iv) The above principles are not intended to codify completely purposes for which compassionate leave with pay may be allowed. The element of unforeseen emergency could be present in other situations, e.g., floods and bushfires, which clearly prevent attendance for duty.
(v) In view of the purpose for which compassionate leave is intended, it is not possible to prescribe a precise limitation of the amount of leave to be granted in a given period. It is suggested, however, that only under the most exceptional circumstances should leave exceeding a total of three days be granted to an employee in any year.
(vi) Bereavement entitlements for casual employees
(a) Subject to the evidentiary and notice requirements in 26(iii)(a)(ii) casual employees are entitled to not be available to attend work, or to leave work upon the death in Australia of a person prescribed in subclause 27(1)(c)(ii) of clause 27, Personal/Carer’s Leave.
(b) The employer and the employee shall agree on the period for which the employee will be entitled to not be available to attend work. In the absence of agreement, the employee is entitled to not be available to attend work for up to 48 hours (i.e. two days) per occasion. The casual employee is not entitled to any payment for the period of non-attendance.
(c) An employer must not fail to re-engage a casual employee because the employee accessed the entitlements provided for in this clause. The rights of an employer to engage or not engage a casual employee are otherwise not affected.
