AN170054 – Laundry and Dry Cleaning Award
(a) Period of Leave
A period of 28 consecutive days' leave shall be allowed annually to an employee after 12 months' continuous service (less the period of annual leave).
(b) Annual Leave Exclusive of Public Holidays
(i) Subject to this subclause, the annual leave prescribed by this clause shall be exclusive of any of the holidays prescribed by Clause 18 - Holidays with Pay of this award, and if any such holiday falls within an employee's period of annual leave and is observed on a day which, in the case of that employee, would have been an ordinary working day, there shall be added to the period of annual leave, time equivalent to the ordinary time which the employee would have worked if such day had not been a holiday.
(ii) Where an employee without reasonable excuse, proof whereof shall lie upon him, is absent from his employment on the working day or part of the working day prior to the commencement of his annual leave, or fails to resume work at his ordinary starting time on the working day immediately following the last day of the period of his annual leave, the employee shall not be entitled to payment for the public holidays which fall within his period of annual leave. In the event of a dispute as to a ‘reasonable excuse' the matter shall be determined by the Tasmanian Industrial Commission.
(c) Broken Leave
Annual leave shall be given and taken in a continuous period, or if the employee and employer so agree, in any combination of periods, provided one period shall be not less than 14 consecutive days, ie. ten working days.
(d) Calculation of Continuous Service
For the purpose of this clause, service shall be deemed to be continuous notwithstanding:
(i) any interruption or termination of the employment by the employer if such interruption or termination has been made merely with the intention of avoiding obligations hereunder in respect of leave of absence;
(ii) any absence from work on account of personal sickness or accident or on account of leave granted by the employer; or
(iii) any absence with reasonable cause, proof whereof shall be upon the employee.
In cases of personal sickness or accident or absence with reasonable cause, the employee to become entitled to the benefit of this subclause shall inform the employer, in writing if practicable, within 48 hours of the commencement of such absence of his inability to attend for duty and as far as practicable state the nature of the illness, injury, or cause, and the estimated duration of his absence.
Any absence from work by reason of any cause not being a cause specified in this subclause shall not be deemed to break the continuity of service for the purposes of this clause unless the employer, during the absence or within 14 days of the termination of the absence, notifies the employee in writing that such absence will be regarded as having broken the continuity of service.
In cases of individual absenteeism, such notice shall be given in writing to the employee concerned but in cases of concerted or collective absenteeism, notice may be given to employees by the posting up of a notification in the factory in the manner in which general notifications to employees are usually made in that factory and by posting to each union whose members have participated in such concerted or collective absenteeism a copy thereof not later than the day it is posted up in the factory.
A notice to an individual employee may be given by delivering it to him personally or by posting it by registered or certified mail to his last recorded address, in which case it will be deemed to have reached him in due course of post.
In calculating the period of 12 months' continuous service, any such absence as aforesaid shall not, except to the extent of not more than 91 days in a 12 monthly period in the case of sickness or accident, be taken into account in calculating the period of 12 months' continuous service.
(e) Payment in Lieu Prohibited
Except as provided in subclause (i) of this clause, payment shall not be made or accepted in lieu of annual leave.
(f) Time of Taking Leave
(i) Annual leave shall be taken at a time mutually agreed on by the employer and the employee. In the absence of such agreement, it shall be taken within 6 months of the date it became due, at a time fixed by the employer, and after at least one month's notice to the employee.
(ii) No entitlement shall be permitted to accrue beyond 12 months after becoming due.
(g) Leave Allowed Before Due Date
(i) An employer may allow annual leave to an employee before the right thereto has accrued due, but where it is taken in such a case a further period of annual leave shall not commence to accrue until after expiration of the 12 months in respect of which annual leave has been taken before it accrued.
(ii) Where leave has been granted to an employee pursuant to this subclause before the right thereto has accrued due and the employee subsequently leaves or is discharged from the service of the employer before completing the 12 months continuous service in respect of which the leave was granted, the employer may deduct from whatever remuneration is payable upon the termination of the employment any excess amount already paid to the employee on account of continuous service not given to the employer.
(h) Payment for Period of Leave
Each employee before going on leave shall be paid the amount of wage he would have received in respect of the ordinary time which he would have worked had he not been on leave during the relevant period, plus a loading equal to 17.5 per cent on all annual leave, provided that such annual leave loading shall not be paid on termination of employment.
(i) Proportionate Leave on Termination of Service
Should an employee not complete 12 months' service in any qualifying 12 monthly period, he or she shall on termination of employment, provided he or she has been employed continuously for one month or more, be entitled to be paid at his or her ordinary rate of wages on a pro rata basis for each completed month of continuous service, as follows:
12 2/3 hours for each completed month of continuous service.
(j) Notwithstanding provisions elsewhere in the award, the employer and the majority of employees at an enterprise may agree to establish a system of single day annual leave absences provided that:
(i) An employee may elect, with the consent of the employer, to take annual leave in single day periods or part of a single day not exceeding a total of five days in any calendar year at a time or times agreed between them.
(ii) Access to annual leave, as prescribed in paragraph (i) above, shall be exclusive of any shutdown period provided for elsewhere under this award.
(iii) An employee and employer may agree to defer payment of the annual leave loading in respect of single day absences, until at least five consecutive annual leave days are taken.
(iv) An employee or the employees may choose to request a union party to this award, to represent their interests in negotiations referred to in paragraph (i) of this subclause.
(v) Once a decision has been taken to introduce an enterprise system of single day annual leave, in accordance with this clause, its terms must be set out in the time and wages records kept pursuant to Regulation 25 of the Industrial Relations Regulations 1993.
(vi) An employer shall record these short term annual leave arrangements in the time and wages book, as prescribed in Clause 33 - Time and Wages Book of this award.
