AN170010 – Building and Construction Industry Award
The provisions of this clause apply to employees other than casuals. The entitlements to casual employees are set out in subclause (f) – Casual Employees – Caring Responsibilities.
(a) Amount of Paid Personal Leave
(i) Paid personal leave will be available to an employee when they are absent due to:
(1) personal illness or injury (sick leave); or
(2) for the purposes of caring for an immediate family or household member who is sick and requires the employee’s care and support (carer’s leave); or
(3) bereavement on the death of an immediate family or household member (bereavement leave).
(ii) The amount of personal leave to which an employee is entitled is as follows:
(1) Three days in the first month and then one additional day at the beginning of each of the next nine calendar months, shall be available in the first year of employment;
(2) Twelve days at the beginning of the employees second and each subsequent year, which subject to paragraph (c)(viii) hereof, shall commence on the anniversary of engagement.
(iii) In any year unused personal leave accrues at the rate of the lesser of:
(1) ten days less the total amount of sick leave and carer’s leave taken from the current year’s personal leave entitlement in that year; or
(2) the balance of that year’s unused personal leave.
(b) Immediate Family or Household
(i) The entitlement to use personal leave for the purpose of carer’s or bereavement leave is subject to the person being either:
(1) a member of the employee’s immediate family; or
(2) a member of the employee’s household.
(ii) The term ‘immediate family’ includes:
(1) spouse (including a former spouse, a de facto spouse and a former de facto spouse) of the employee. A de facto spouse means a person of the opposite sex to the employee who lives with the employee as the employee’s husband or wife on a bona fide domestic basis; and
(2) child or an adult child (including an adopted child, a step child or an ex-nuptial child), parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the employee or spouse of the employee.
(c) Sick Leave
(i) An employee during the first year of employment with an employer shall be entitled to use personal leave as sick leave, on account of personal illness or injury other than that covered by workers’ compensation, at the rate of one day at the beginning of each of the first 10 calendar months.
(ii) PROVIDED that an employee who has completed one year of continuous employment shall be credited with a further 10 days’ sick leave entitlement at the beginning of the employee’s second and subsequent year, which subject to paragraph (c)(viii) hereof, shall commence on the anniversary of engagement.
(iii) An employee is entitled to use accumulated personal leave for the purpose of sick leave where the current year’s sick leave entitlement has been exhausted.
(iv) An employee shall within 24 hours of the commencement of such sick leave inform the employer of the employee’s inability to attend for duty, and, as far as practicable, state the nature of the injury or illness and the estimated duration of the employee’s absence.
(v) An employee shall prove to the employer’s satisfaction that the employee was unable on account of such illness or injury to attend for duty on the day or days for which sick leave is claimed.
(vi) In the case of an employee who claims to be allowed paid sick leave in accordance with this clause for an absence of one day only such employee if in the year the employee has already been allowed paid sick leave on two occasions for one day only, shall not be entitled to payment for the day claimed unless the employee produces to the employer a certificate of a duly qualified medical practitioner that in the medical practitioner’s opinion, the employee was unable to attend for duty on account of personal illness or injury. Provided that an employer may agree to accept from the employee a Statutory Declaration, stating that the employee was unable to attend for duty on account of personal illness or injury in lieu of a medical certificate.
(vii) Any sick leave for which an employee may become eligible under this award by reason of service with one employer shall not be cumulative upon sick leave for which the employee may become eligible by reason of subsequent service with another employer.
(viii) If an employee is terminated by the employer and is re-engaged by the same employer within a period of six months, then the employee’s unclaimed balance of sick leave shall continue from the date of re-engagement. In such case the employee’s next year of service will commence after a total of 12 months has been served with that employer, excluding the period of interruption in service from the date of commencement of the previous period of employment or the anniversary of the commencement of the previous period of employment, as the case may be.
(d) Bereavement Leave
(i) An employee (other than a casual) is entitled to use up to two days’ paid personal leave as bereavement leave on the death within Australia of a member of the employee’s immediate family or household. Such leave shall be up to and including the day of the funeral of such relation (or where made necessary because of travel arrangements, the day after the funeral).
(ii) PROVIDED further that, with the consent of the employer, which shall not be unreasonably withheld, an employee shall in addition be entitled to up to 10 working days’ unpaid bereavement leave in respect of the death within Australia or overseas of a relation to whom the clause applies.
(iii) Proof of such death shall be provided by the employee to the satisfaction of the employer.
(iv) An employee may take unpaid bereavement leave by agreement with the employer.
(e) Carer’s Leave
(i) An employee is entitled to use up to 10 days personal leave, including accrued leave, each year to care for members of their immediate family or household who are sick and require care and support or who require care due to an unexpected emergency, subject to the conditions set out in this clause.
Leave may be taken for part of a single day.
(ii) By agreement between an employer and an individual employee, the employee may access an additional amount of their accrued personal leave for the purposes set out in paragraph (e)(i), beyond the limit set out in paragraph (e)(i). In such circumstances, the employer and the employee shall agree upon the additional amount that may be accessed.
(iii) When taking leave to care for members of their immediate family or household who require care due to an unexpected emergency, the employee must, if required by the employer, establish by production of documentation acceptable to the employer or a statutory declaration, the nature of the emergency and that such emergency resulted in the person concerned requiring care by the employee.
(iv) The employee shall, wherever practicable, give the employer notice prior to the absence of the intention to take leave, the name of the person requiring care and their relationship to the employee, the reason for taking such leave and the estimated length of absence. If it is not practicable for the employee to give prior notice of absence, the employee shall notify the employer by telephone of such absence at the first opportunity on the day of absence.
(v) Where an employee has exhausted all paid personal leave entitlements, they are entitled to take unpaid personal leave to care for members of their immediate family or household who are sick and require care and support or who require care due to an unexpected emergency. The employer and the employee shall agree on the period. In the absence of agreement, the employee is entitled to take up to two days (up to a maximum of 16 hours) per occasion, provided the requirements of subclause (e) is met.
(vi) In normal circumstances an employee shall not take carer’s leave under this clause where another person has taken leave to care for the same person.
(f) Casual Employees - Caring responsibilities
(i) Subject to the evidentiary and notice requirements in subclause (e), casual employees are entitled to not be available to attend work, or to leave work:
(1) if they need to care for members of their immediate family or household who are sick and require care and support, or who require care due to an unexpected emergency, or the birth of a child; or
(2) upon the death in Australia of an immediate family or household member.
(ii) 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.
(iii) 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 to engage a casual employee are otherwise not affected.
