AP839984 - Airline Operations - Technical Salaried Staff - Qantas Airways Limited - Award 2005
23.1 Definitions
The term immediate family includes:
23.1.1 a spouse (including a former spouse, a de facto spouse and a former de facto spouse) of the employee. A de facto spouse, in relation to a person, means a person of the opposite sex to the first mentioned person who lives with the first mentioned person as the husband or wife of that person on a bona fide domestic basis although not legally married to that person; and
23.1.2 a child or an adult child (including an adopted child, a step child or an ex nuptial child), parent (including foster parents), grandparent, grandchild, parent-in-law or sibling of the employee or spouse of the employee.
23.2 Entitlement
23.2.1 Subject to clause 23.3.1, an employee is entitled to paid personal leave in the following circumstances:
23.2.1(a) when the employee is absent from work due to personal illness or accident (sick leave);
23.2.1(b) for the purposes of caring for a member of the employee’s immediate family or household who is sick and who requires the employee’s care and support (carer’s leave);
23.2.1(c) when a member of the employee’s immediate family or household dies (bereavement leave).
23.2.2 Personal leave of 13 days is available in the first year of service, 18 days personal leave is available in each subsequent year of service.
23.2.3 Personal leave may accumulate to a maximum of 52 weeks.
23.3 Sick leave
23.3.1 Entitlement
23.3.1(a) An employee is entitled to:
23.3.1(a)(i) five days (40 hours) sick leave upon appointment;
23.3.1(a)(ii) five additional days (40 hours) after six months service;
23.3.1(a)(iii) 15 days (120 hours) per year of service after each 12 months service.
23.3.1(b) An employee is entitled to use accumulated personal leave for the purposes of sick leave if the employee’s current year’s sick leave entitlement has been exhausted.
23.3.1(c) Leave with pay will be granted to an employee if the employee is absent from work due to illness or injury, subject to this clause.
23.3.2 Notice of illness or injury
23.3.2(a) An employee must notify the Company as soon as practicable and within eight hours of the commencement of the absence of the employee’s inability to attend for duty. The employee must also, as far as practicable, tell the Company the nature of the illness, accident or injury and the estimated length of the absence.
23.3.2(b) If it is not reasonably practicable for the employee to notify the Company of the absence within eight hours of the time the employee would normally have commenced his or her duties, the employee must inform the Company of the absence within 24 hours of this time.
23.3.3 Proof of illness or injury
23.3.3(a) An officer shall prove to the satisfaction of the Company that he/she was unable to account for such illness or injury to attend for duty on the day or days for which sick leave is claimed.
23.3.3(b) All claims for sick leave in excess of four days per sick leave year, including any absence in excess of three consecutive days must be substantiated by a medical certificate.
23.3.3(c) Absences, due to illness, without production of a medical certificate or other evidence acceptable to the Company, may be allowed for a period not exceeding four days in any one sick leave year, but for not more than three consecutive days on any one occasion. Provided that a medical certificate or other evidence acceptable to the Company shall be produced if requested by the Company at the time the absence is notified. For the purposes of this paragraph only, where an officer does not attend a doctor a statutory declaration shall be satisfactory evidence.
23.3.4 Effect of workers’ compensation
An employee is not entitled to be paid sick leave for any period for which he or she is receiving workers’ compensation.
23.3.5 Sick leave and public holidays
Leave under this clause is exclusive of public holidays.
23.3.6 Sick leave and annual leave
If an employee falls sick while on annual leave and provides the Company with satisfactory medical evidence, the employee may be granted additional annual leave equivalent to the period of sickness. The additional annual leave may be granted at a time convenient to the Company and the employee. The period of sickness within the annual leave must be recorded as sick leave.
23.3.7 Maximum period of sick leave
Employees will accumulate up to a maximum of 52 continuous weeks of paid sick leave. If an employee has exhausted all leave allowable with pay, the employee may be granted additional leave without pay, up to a combined maximum of 78 weeks paid and unpaid leave.
23.4 Bereavement leave
23.4.1 An employee after one month’s continuous service is entitled to use up to three days personal leave as bereavement leave on each occasion of the death of a member of the employee’s immediate family or household. On the death of other close relatives of the employee, one day’s leave may be granted by the Company.
23.4.2 Employees must produce satisfactory evidence of the death to the Company.
23.5 Carer’s leave
23.5.1 Entitlement
An employee is entitled to use up to five days personal leave each year as carer’s leave. This entitlement is subject to:
23.5.1(a) the employee being responsible for the care of the person concerned; and
23.5.1(b) the person concerned being either:
23.5.1(b)(i) a member of the employee’s immediate family; or
23.5.1(b)(ii) a member of the employee’s household.
23.5.2 Proof of illness or injury
The employee must, if required, establish by production of a medical certificate or statutory declaration, the illness or injury of the person concerned and that the illness or injury is such as to require care by another.
23.5.3 Notice requirements
23.5.3(a) The employee must, before taking carer’s leave, give two hours notice before his or her next rostered starting time, unless he or she has a good reason for not doing so.
23.5.3(b) The notice must include:
23.5.3(b)(i) the intention to take leave;
23.5.3(b)(ii) the name of the person requiring care and their relationship to the employee;
23.5.3(b)(iii) the reasons for taking leave; and
23.5.3(b)(iv) the estimated length of absence.
23.5.3(c) If it is not practicable for the employee to give the Company prior notice of the absence, the employee must notify the Company by telephone of such absence at the first opportunity on the day of absence.
23.5.4 Unpaid carer’s leave
An employee may elect, with the consent of the Company, to take unpaid leave for the purpose of providing care to a family or household member who is ill.
23.6 Annual leave
23.6.1 An employee may elect, with the consent of the Company, to take up to five days annual leave (in any calendar year) in single day periods at a time or times agreed between them, for the purposes of this clause.
23.6.2 Access to annual leave as described in this clause shall be exclusive of any shut down period provided for elsewhere in this award.
23.6.3 An employee and the Company 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.
