AT794071 - Queensland Local Government Officers' Award 1998 [Transitional]
[24 Personal carers leave title changed and substituted by PR968894 ppc 13Dec05]
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 17.17A.
24.1 Definitions
The term immediate family includes:
24.1.1 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
24.1.2 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.
24.2 Amount of paid personal leave
24.2.1 Paid personal leave is available to an employee, other than a casual employee, when they are absent:
24.2.2 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:
24.2.2(a) personal leave accruing at one day's leave for each month of employment in the first year to a total of 12 days;
24.2.2(b) 15 days personal leave will be available per annum in the second and subsequent years of service.
24.2.3 Accumulation of personal leave
At the end of each year of employment, unused personal leave accrues by the lesser of:
24.2.3(a) 15 days less the amount of personal leave taken from the current year's personal leave entitlement in that year; or
24.2.3(b) the balance of the year’s unused personal leave.
24.3 Effect of workers’ compensation
If an employee is receiving workers’ compensation payments, they are not entitled to personal leave.
24.4 Broken service
If an employee is terminated by their employer and is re-engaged by the same employer within a period of six months then the employee’s unclaimed balance of personal leave shall continue from the date of re-engagement.
24.5 Personal leave for personal injury or sickness
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.
24.5.1 An officer is entitled to use up to one day per month of the current year's personal leave entitlements as personal leave in the first year of service and 15 days (3 weeks) in the second and subsequent years of service.
24.5.2 An officer is entitled to use accumulated personal leave for the purposes of personal leave where the current year's personal leave entitlement has been exhausted.
24.5.3 Any absence on personal leave that exceeds two consecutive days shall be contingent upon production by the officer concerned of either a certificate from the duly qualified medical practitioner or other evidence of illness satisfactory to the respondent.
24.5.4 Credit shall be allowed for personal leave accumulated with previous employing respondents provided that the officer's service as between such respondents has been continuous and that the officer at the time of engagement produces a certificate from the previous respondent certifying the amount of personal leave accumulated to the officer's credit.
Provided also that in respect of any such engagement of an officer by a respondent prior to 1 September 1974 the maximum credit for accumulated personal leave shall be restricted to 75 days (15 weeks).
24.5.5 Continuous service is defined for the purpose of 24.5.4 above to include service with a respondent or with more than one respondent which has been continuous except for the officers having been dismissed or stood down, or by the officer having terminated the officer's service with the respondent provided that the officer shall have been re-employed by that respondent or some other respondent within a period not exceeding the combination of any period of unused annual leave when the officer ceased employment with the officer's previous respondent plus a further period of four weeks.
24.5.6 Notwithstanding the foregoing an officer shall not be entitled to payment for absence through illness or injury in respect of which workers' compensation is payable or through injury sustained by an officer outside the scope of the officer's employment caused by or contributed to by the officer's own negligence or participation in sport or games in respect of which such officer receives any payment by way of fee or bonus.
24.5.7 If an officer while absent from duty on annual leave granted pursuant to clause 23—Annual leave, of this award is overtaken by illness the officer shall, on production of a certificate signed by a duly qualified medical practitioner certifying that such officer is incapacitated by such illness to the extent that the officer would be unfit to perform normal duties for a period of not less than five days, and subject to the provisions of 24.5.6 of this clause, be entitled on application to have such period of illness which occurs during the officer's annual leave debited to the officer's personal leave entitlements and the officer's annual leave entitlement shall be adjusted accordingly.
24.5.8 If an officer whilst absent from duty on long service leave granted pursuant to clause 25—Long service leave, is overtaken by illness the officer may, subject to the provision contained in this clause, be entitled on application to have such period of illness which occurs during the officer's long service leave debited to the officer's personal leave entitlement and the officer's long service leave entitlement shall be adjusted accordingly, provided that:
The provisions of this clause shall apply subject to 24.5.6 above.
Personal leave may accumulate to a maximum of 32 weeks (160 days).
24.6 Personal leave to care for an immediate family or household member
24.6.1 An officer is entitled to use any personal leave entitlement which has accrued after 9 June 1995, 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.
24.6.2 The officer shall, if required, establish by production of a medical certificate or statutory declaration, the illness of the person concerned.
24.6.3 The officer 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 officer, 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 the absence.
24.6.4 An officer may take unpaid carer's leave by agreement with the respondent.
24.6.5 An officer taking unpaid carer's leave may with the consent of their employer work "make-up time" under which the officer takes time off ordinary hours and works those hours at a later time, during the spread of ordinary hours provided by the award.
24.6.6 An officer may elect with the consent of the employer to take annual leave in single day periods not exceeding ten days in any calendar year and may elect to defer the payment of annual leave loading until five consecutive days of annual leave are taken.
24.6.7 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) of unpaid leave per occasion.
24.6.8 Casual employees are entitled to not be available to attend work or to leave work in certain circumstances as set out in clause 17.17A
