AP822300 - Milk Treatment and Distribution Employees (A.C.T.) Award 2003
The provisions of this clause apply to full-time and regular part-time employees, but do not apply to casual employees.
28.1 Amount of paid personal leave
28.1.1 Paid personal leave will be available to an employee when they are absent due to:
28.1.2 The amount of personal leave to which an employee is entitled depends on how long he or she has worked for the employer and accrues as follows:
28.1.2(a) 80 hours sick leave plus three days bereavement leave will be available in the first year of service;
28.1.2(b) 80 hours sick leave plus three days bereavement leave will be available per annum in the second and subsequent years of service.
28.1.3 In any year unused personal leave accrues by the lesser of:
28.1.3(a) 80 hours less the amount of sick leave and carer’s leave taken during the year; or
28.1.3(b) the balance of that year’s unused personal leave.
28.1.4 Personal leave may accumulate to a maximum of 640 hours.
28.2 Immediate family or household
28.2.1 The entitlement to carer’s or bereavement leave is subject to the person in respect of whom the leave is taken being either:
28.2.1(a) a member of the employee’s immediate family; or
28.2.1(b) a member of the employee’s household.
28.2.2 The term immediate family includes:
28.2.2(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
28.2.2(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.
28.3 Sick leave
28.3.1 An employee is entitled to use up to 76 hours of the current year’s personal leave entitlement as sick leave in the first year of service and 76 hours in the second and subsequent years of service.
28.3.2 An employee is entitled to use accumulated personal leave for the purposes of sick leave where the current year’s sick leave entitlement has been exhausted.
28.3.3 Should an employee be absent from work on account of sickness or accident it shall be necessary for such employee, who is employed in Canberra, to notify the employer or agent authorised on their behalf that such absence is due to sickness or accident at the ordinary commencing time of work, wherever practicable, but in any case not later than twelve noon on that working day. Should an employer require a written statement setting out the nature of the illness, such statement shall be furnished within 48 hours of the commencement of such absence.
28.3.4 When an employee has had one month’s continuous service with an employer and is subsequently absent from work on account of personal sickness such employer shall not deduct from the pay of such employee on account of such absence the amount which the employee would be entitled to receive if working, but shall pay such employee such amount or amounts as the employee would have been entitled to receive if working but not exceeding in any one year of his or her employment with such employer 76 hours ordinary pay, subject to the following conditions and limitation.
28.3.5 Sick leave allowable under this clause which is not availed of during the year in which it accrues, shall while an employee is employed by the same employer be allowed to accumulate up to a maximum of 640, but after an employee has so accumulated a credit of 640, the employee shall, in each succeeding year of continuous employment with the same employer be credited with only so many hours as may be necessary to bring the total credit to a maximum of 640.
28.3.6 Employees shall not be entitled to be paid for sick leave for any period in respect of which worker’s compensation is paid or payable.
28.3.7 Application for sick leave shall be in writing and if sick leave is applied for with pay, the application, where the absence exceeds two consecutive days or the employee has previously been absent for an aggregate of four days without production of a medical certificate during the current year of service, shall be accompanied by a medical certificate or other evidence satisfactory to the employer.
28.3.8 Medical certificates furnished by employees in accordance with 28.3.7 to cover any periods of absence shall indicate to the employer the nature of the illness suffered by the employee.
28.3.9 Illness during recreation leave, when such illness exceeds one week and is covered by a medical certificate, shall be regarded as sick leave and an equivalent number of days shall be added to such recreation leave.
28.3.10 In the event of any dispute arising in regard to any claim for sick leave or the payment for sick leave, such dispute shall be processed through clause 9 - Dispute settlement procedure.
28.3.11 An employee shall only be entitled to a maximum of 76 hours sick leave in any one year (unless otherwise provided for in this clause) whether employed by one employer or several and any employee applying for sick leave and receiving such with pay in excess of 80 hours prescribed shall be guilty of an offence and liable to disqualification from the benefits of this clause for such time as may be determined by the Commission together with any other action which may be taken for a breach of this award.
28.4 Bereavement leave
28.4.1 An employee is entitled to use up to three days personal leave as bereavement leave annually.
28.4.2 An employee after one month’s continuous service with his or her present employer and on production of evidence satisfactory to that employer shall, on the death of a near relative, be granted a maximum of three days leave on full pay in any one year as compassionate leave.
28.4.3 For the purpose of this clause a near relative means the father, mother, husband, wife, or defacto wife, brother, sister, son or daughter, mother-in-law or father-in-law of the employee.
28.5 Carer’s leave
An employee other than a casual is entitled to use up to five days personal leave each year to care for members of his or her immediate family or household who are sick and require care and support. This entitlement 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 where another person has taken leave for the same person.
28.5.1 Notice required
28.5.1(a) An employee shall, as soon as reasonably practicable, inform the employer of the employee’s inability to attend work, and, as far as possible, state the nature and duration of the absence.
28.5.1(b) The notice must include:
28.5.1(c) If it is not practicable for the employee to give prior notice of absence, the employee must notify the employer by telephone at the first opportunity.
28.5.2 Evidence supporting claim
The employee must, if required by the employer, establish by production of a medical certificate or statutory declaration, the illness of the person concerned and that the illness is such as to require care by another.
28.5.3 Unpaid leave
An employee may take unpaid carer’s leave by agreement with the employer.
