AP811245 - Timber Industry – CFMEU Wood Panels – Award 2000
[34 Personal/Carer’s Leave (incorporating sick and bereavement leave) title changed and substituted by PR969388 ppc 10Mar06]
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 34B.
34.1 Amount of paid personal leave
34.1.1 Paid personal leave is available to an employee, when they are absent:
34.1.2 An employee is entitled to the following amount of paid personal leave:
34.1.2(a) An employee during the first year of employment, shall be entitled to personal leave at the rate of 1.461 hours per week.
34.1.2(b) At the commencement of each succeeding year of continuous service an employee shall be entitled to 76 hours.
34.1.3 Accumulation of personal leave
Personal leave entitlements which are untaken at the completion of the year shall accumulate on the following scale:
34.1.3(a) The balance of personal leave, provided that such remaining leave does not exceed the quantum of leave specified below, less any personal leave taken by the employee during the year:
34.1.3(a)(i) At the rate of 1.461 hours per week in the first year of service;
34.1.3(a)(ii) up to 76 hours in the second and following years of service.
34.2.1 The term immediate family includes:
34.2.1(a) 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
34.2.2(b) 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.
34.3 Personal leave for personal injury or sickness
34.3.1 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.
34.3.2 Leave taken by an employee under clause 34.3 is deducted from the amount of personal leave under clause 34.1.
34.3.3 An employee is entitled to use accumulated personal leave for personal injury or sickness if the employee has already used the current year’s personal leave entitlements.
34.3.4 An employee shall not be entitled to paid leave of absence for any period in respect of which there is an entitlement to workers compensation.
34.3.5 An employee or a person on behalf of the employee shall, prior to the conclusion of the ordinary hours of work inform the employer of the inability to attend for duty and as far as practicable state the nature of the injury or illness and the estimated duration of absence.
34.3.6 An employee shall prove to the satisfaction of the employer or provide proof as agreed through the consultative process established under clause 11 - Consultative mechanisms and procedures in the workplace, that the employee was unable on account of such illness or injury to attend for duty on the day or days for which personal leave is claimed. For such purpose the employer may require an employee to make a statutory declaration verifying the cause of the absence.
34.4 Payment of untaken personal leave
34.4.1 Basis of payment
Where an employee has more than 152 hours of accumulated personal leave at the end of a year, the employer shall pay such employee for any accumulated untaken personal leave exceeding 152 hours, up to a maximum payment as for 76 hours. Such payment shall be made at the ordinary rate of pay applicable to the worker at that time.
34.4.2 Time of payment
The date upon which an employee shall be entitled to payment under this clause shall be:
34.4.2(a) For employees whose employment commenced prior to 1 January 1974 - 1 January each year.
34.4.2(b) For employees whose employment commenced after 1 January 1974 - the anniversary date of the commencement of the employee’s employment each year.
34.5 Statement of employee’s personal leave credits
Upon request by an employee the employer shall advise the employee concerned of the amount of accumulated untaken personal leave held in credit by the employee at the beginning of the employee’s leave year.
34.6 Sickness on a rostered day off
Where an employee is sick or injured on a rostered day off the employee shall not be entitled to paid personal leave for that day nor will the employee’s personal leave entitlements be reduced as a result of sickness or injury that day.
34.7 Personal leave when service is broken
If an employees service is terminated by the employer by reason of slackness of trade and is re-engaged by the employer within a period of six months the employees unclaimed personal leave shall continue from the date of re-engagement. In such a case the employees next year of service will commence after a total of twelve months has been served with the 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.
34.8 Reimbursement of expenses for attendance at hospital
An employee suffering injury through an accident arising out of, and in the course of employment (not being an injury in respect of which the employee is entitled to workers compensation) necessitating attendance during working hours of a doctor, chemist or trained nurse, or at a hospital, will not suffer any deduction from the employees pay for the time (not exceeding four hours) as occupied on the day of the accident and will be reimbursed by the employer all expenses reasonably incurred in connection with such attendance.
34.9 Personal leave to care for an immediate family or household member
34.9.1 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. Leave may be taken for part of a single day.
34.9.2 The entitlement to use personal leave to care for an immediate family or household member is subject to the employee being responsible for the care of the person concerned.
34.9.3 When taking leave to care for members of their immediate family or household who require care due to illness, the employee must, if required by the employer, establish by production of documentation acceptable to the employer or a statutory declaration, the nature of illness and that such illness resulted in the person concerned requiring care by the employee.
34.9.4 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.
34.9.5 In normal circumstances an employee must not take personal leave under this clause where another person has taken leave to care for the same person.
34.9.6 The employee must, where 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 must notify the employer by telephone of such absence at the first opportunity on the day of absence.
34.9.7 Each day or part of a day of personal leave taken in accordance with this clause is to be deducted from the amount of personal leave provided in sub clause 34.1.2 of this clause.
34.9.8 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 34.9.1, beyond the limit set out in 34.9.1. In such circumstances, the employer and the employee shall agree upon the additional amount that may be accessed.
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 34.9.3 or 34.9.4 and 34.9.6 are met.
The dispute settlement clause of the award applies to a dispute about the effect or operation of this clause.
