Australia Post General Conditions of Employment Award 1999
AP766597 - Australia Post General Conditions of Employment Award 1999
[26 varied by S4324; substituted by PR913154; PR969602; PR969602 cancelled and replaced by PR970166 ppc 15Feb06]
The provisions of this clause apply to permanent and fixed term full-time and part-time employees (on a pro-rata basis) but do not apply to casual employees. The entitlements of casual employees are set out in clause 14.
The term immediate family includes:
26.1.1 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 his or her husband or wife on a bona fide domestic basis; and
26.1.2 child or an adult child (including an adopted child, a stepchild or an ex-nuptial child), parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the employee or spouse of the employee.
26.2 Amount of paid personal leave
26.2.1 Paid personal leave is available to an employee, other than a casual employee, when the employee is absent:
26.2.2 The amount of personal leave to which a full-time employee is entitled depends on how long the employee has worked for Australia Post and accrues as follows:
26.2.2(a) Period of Employment
Period of employment |
Day(s) |
On completion of each 20 days continuous employment |
|
during the first 12 months, subject to a maximum of 15 days |
1 |
On completion of 12 months employment |
15 |
On completion of each additional 12 months employment |
15 |
26.2.2(b) Unused Personal Leave
In any year, unused personal leave accrues at the rate of the lesser of:
26.2.2(c) Maximum Accrual
Personal Leave can therefore only accrue at a maximum rate of 15 days per year, such leave is cumulative.
26.3 Personal leave for personal injury or sickness (sick leave)
An employee is entitled to use the full amount of their personal leave entitlement including accrued leave for the purposes of personal illness or injury, subject to the conditions set out in this clause.
26.4 Personal leave to care for an immediate family or household member (carer’s leave)
26.4.1 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.
26.4.2 By agreement between Australia Post and an individual employee, the employee may access an additional amount of their accrued personal leave for the purposes set out in 26.4.1, beyond the limit set out in 26.4.1. In such circumstances, Australia Post and the employee shall agree upon the additional amount that may be accessed.
26.4.3 The entitlement in 26.4.1 is subject to the employee being responsible for the care and support of the person concerned. In normal circumstances, an employee is not entitled to take carer’s leave under this clause if another person has taken leave to care for the same person.
26.5 Employee must give notice
The manager or another appropriate employee is informed, prior to the commencement of duty, if practicable, of the employee’s inability to attend for duty. In the case of carer’s leave the employee shall, wherever practicable, give Australia Post notice of the leave prior to the absence, the name of the person requiring care and their relationship to the employee, the reasons 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.
26.6 Evidence supporting claim
26.6.1 An application for sick leave must be supported by the certificate of a duly qualified medical practitioner or other evidence approved by Australia Post;
26.6.2 An employee must establish by production of a medical certificate, the illness of the person concerned and that the illness is such as to require care by another.
26.6.3 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 Australia Post, establish by production of documentation acceptable to Australia Post or a statutory declaration of the nature of the emergency and that such emergency resulted in the person concerned requiring care by the employee.
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. Australia Post and the employee shall agree on the period. In the absence of agreement, the employee is entitled to take up to two days per occasion, provided the requirements of 26.5, 26.6.2 and 26.6.3 are met.
26.8 Sick leave without certificate
26.8.1 Despite 26.6.1 and subject to the availability of credits, Australia Post may grant sick leave without production of a medical certificate for up to 36 ¾ hours in any sick leave year, subject to any such leave not exceeding 3 continuous days.
26.8.2 Except as provided in 26.8.1, where sick leave is granted without production of medical evidence, such leave is without pay.
Sick Leave taken by an employee is debited against available sick leave credits, except where sick leave taken on a Public Holiday, which but for the sick leave would have been observed, is not debited.
26.10 Illness during annual leave
If an employee produces satisfactory medical evidence of illness during annual leave, the absence will be recorded as sick leave and annual leave recredited accordingly, provided:
26.10.1 the employee has obtained a medical certificate;
26.10.2 the medical evidence indicates the employee was unfit for duty;
26.10.3 sick leave for not less than one day was needed;
26.10.4 sick leave credits are available; and
26.10.5 the medical evidence is provided at the time of illness or if that is not possible as soon as practicable thereafter.
26.11 Failure to produce satisfactory evidence
Despite anything else contained in this clause, where an employee has failed to produce satisfactory evidence to support an application for sick leave, Australia Post may direct that employee, in writing, that all future applications for sick leave for such period as is specified in the direction must be supported by evidence in accordance with 26.6.1.
26.12 Employee to provide medical report
Australia Post may require an employee to furnish a medical report or undergo an examination by a medical practitioner nominated by Australia Post where the employee:
26.12.1 may be unfit or incapable of discharging duties;
26.12.2 may be a danger to other employees or members of the public due to state of health;
26.12.3 has been absent through illness for a continuous period exceeding 13 weeks;
26.12.4 has been absent through illness and the authorised employee believes that the employee is not fit to resume duty.
26.12.5 An employee who is required to furnish a medical report or undergo a medical examination under 26.12 must do so as soon as practicable.
The maximum period of absence which may be approved with pay in respect of a continuous absence through illness is 52 weeks.
An employee who has exhausted all leave allowable with pay may be granted leave without pay, provided that:
26.14.1 in respect of the first year of continuous employment, the aggregate period of any sick leave without pay must not exceed 20 days; and
26.14.2 in respect of any continuous period of absence thereafter, leave with and without pay must not exceed 78 weeks.
26.15 Invalidity retirement date
The retirement of an employee on the ground of invalidity shall not, except with the consent of the employee, be effected earlier than the date on which the employee's sick leave credit is exhausted. However this is subject to the following:
26.15.1 the continuous period for which an employee may be granted sick leave on full pay immediately prior to retirement must not exceed 52 weeks;
26.15.2 a further credit of sick leave does not accrue subsequent to the date of the decision to retire the employee.
26.16 Reappointment after retirement
An employee who has been retired on invalidity grounds, if subsequently reappointed, is to be re-credited with the sick leave credits held immediately prior to retirement.
Despite anything contained in this clause, where satisfactory medical evidence is produced that absence from duty was on account of illness which originated from war service, the employee may be granted war service sick leave. War service sick leave is paid leave, and counts as service for all purposes. Where war service sick leave credits have expired, the employee may apply for sick leave under this clause.
26.18 Recognition of Prior Public Employment
26.18.1 Continuous employment with one or more other public employers may be regarded as service with Australia Post for sick leave purposes. For permanent employees, employment is regarded as continuous if any break in public employment does not exceed two months.
26.18.2 Public employers in this provision has the same meaning as public employers who are covered by the prior service provisions of the Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1976.
