AP799690 - Transport Workers’ (Oil Companies) Award 1998
[Sec II:22 Sick leave title changed and substituted by PR969218 ppc 01Mar06]
The provisions of this clause apply to full-time and regular 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 9.5.
22.1 Definitions
The term immediate family includes:
22.1.1 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
22.1.2 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.
22.2 Amount of paid personal leave
22.2.1 Paid personal leave is available to an employee, when they are absent:
22.2.2 The amount of personal leave to which a full-time employee is entitled depends on how long they have worked for the employer and accrues as follows:
22.2.2(a) the employee will not be entitled, in respect of any year of service with the employer, to personal leave in excess of five days in the first year of service and eight days in any subsequent year of service. Personal leave will accumulate from year to year so that any balance of the period specified herein which has, in any year, not been allowed to an employee by an employer as paid personal leave may be claimed by the employee and, subject to the conditions prescribed in this award, will be allowed by that employer in a subsequent year without diminution of the personal leave prescribed in respect of the year.
22.2.2(b) Personal leave which accumulates pursuant to this subclause will be available to the employee for a period of ten years, but no longer, from the end of the year in which it accrues.
22.3 Personal leave for personal injury or sickness
22.3.1 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.
22.3.2 the employee will not be entitled to paid leave of absence for any period in respect of which there is an entitlement to Workers’ Compensation.
22.3.3 An employee will not be entitled to personal leave for personal injury or sickness for more than two absences, each of a single day, in any one year of service without the production (if requested by the employer) of a certificate from a qualified medical practitioner. Nothing in this sub-clause will limit the employer’s rights under 21.1 of this award.
22.4 Personal leave to care for immediate family or household members.
22.4.1 An employee with responsibilities in relation to either members of their immediate family or members of their household who need their care and support shall be entitled to use, in accordance with this sub-clause, any personal leave entitlement which accrues after the date of this order for absences to provide care and support for such persons when they are ill or require care due to an unexpected emergency.
22.4.2 The entitlement to use personal leave in accordance with this sub-clause is subject to:
22.4.2(a) The employee being responsible for the care of the person concerned; and
22.4.2(b) The person concerned being either:
22.4.2(b)(i) a member of the employee’s immediate family; or
22.4.2(b)(ii) a member of the employee’s household.
22.4.2 Unpaid leave
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 22.5 and 22.6 are met.
22.5 Employee must give notice
22.5.1 Where an absence is due to personal injury or sickness, where practicable, the employee will notify the nominated representative of the employer prior to the commencement of the next period of work, and, in any case, the employee will, within twenty-four hours of the commencement of such absence, inform the employer of the inability to attend for duty and, as far as practicable, state the nature of the illness or incapacity and the estimated duration of the absence.
22.5.2 Where an absence is due to the need to care for an immediate family or household member, 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 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.
22.6 Evidentiary requirements
22.6.1 Where an absence is due to personal injury or sickness, the employee will prove the inability, on account of such illness or incapacity, to attend for duty on the day or days for which personal leave for personal injury or sickness is claimed.
22.6.2 Where an absence is due to the need to care for an immediate family or household member who is ill, the employee shall, if required, establish by production of a medical certificate or statutory declaration, the illness of the person concerned.
22.6.3 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 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.
