Family and Domestic Violence Leave

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The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has decided to provide five days’ unpaid leave per annum to all employees (including part time and casuals) experiencing family and domestic violence. This leave will be available in the event that the employee needs to do something to deal with the impact of the family and domestic violence and it is impractical for them to do it outside their ordinary hours of work. The FWC decided to defer its consideration of whether employees should be able to access paid personal/carer’s leave for the purpose of taking family and domestic violence leave. The unpaid entitlement will:

  • will be available in full at the commencement of each 12 month period rather than accruing progressively during a year of service;
  • will not accumulate from year to year;
  • will be available in full to part-time and casual employees (i.e. not pro-rated).

The FWC observed that the extent to which the new entitlement to unpaid leave will be utilised is unknown, as is the impact of the new entitlement on business. It proposes to consider whether any changes are needed to the unpaid leave model term in 2021, including whether this leave should be paid.

Award terms are to be finalised in the “coming weeks”; AFEI will advise members when these variations are made.