An amendment to the Fair Work Act 2009 was passed by Parliament on 27 October 2022 and received Royal Assent on 9 November 2022 to replace the current Family and Domestic Violence Leave entitlement of 5 days of unpaid leave in the National Employment Standards.
New Entitlement
All employees in the Fair Work system (including part-time and casual employees) will be entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period. The leave will not be pro-rated for part time or casual employees.
Employees will be entitled to the full 10 days upfront, meaning they won’t have to accrue it over time. The leave renews every year on each employee’s work anniversary.
The leave won’t accumulate from year to year if it isn’t used.
Meaning of family and domestic violence
Under the new provisions, family and domestic violence means violent, threatening or other abusive behaviour by an employee’s close relative, a current or former intimate partner, or a member of their household that both:
- seeks to coerce or control the employee
- causes them harm or fear.
A close relative is:
- an employee’s
- spouse or former spouse
- de facto partner or former de facto partner
- child
- parent
- grandparent
- grandchild
- sibling
- a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of an employee’s current or former spouse or de fact partner
- a person related to the employee according to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander kinship rules
Commencement
The new leave entitlement will be available from:
- 1 February 2023, for employees of non-small business employers (15 or more employees)
- 1 August 2023, for employees of small business employers (less than 15 employees)
Employees who start on or after the date that the paid leave entitlement becomes available at their new workplace can access the full 10 days from their first day. The leave will renew on their work anniversary.
Employees who are already employed when the paid leave entitlement starts in their workplace can access the full 10 days on the relevant start date. The leave then renews on the anniversary of when they started working for that employer (not on the anniversary of the relevant start date).
Payment for leave
Full-time and part-time employees can take paid family and domestic violence leave at their full pay rate for the hours they would have worked if they weren’t on leave.
Casual employees will be paid at their full pay rate for the hours they were rostered to work in the period they took leave.
An employee’s full pay rate is their base rate plus any:
- incentive-based payments and bonuses
- loadings
- monetary allowances
- overtime or penalty rates
- any other separately identifiable amounts.
Next Steps for Employers
1) Create/review the leave policies within the organisation to ensure the new Family and Domestic Violence Leave entitlement is included.
2) Enter the leave entitlement in the payroll system. To maintain the safety of an employee, ensure the leave type is not displayed on pay slips as Family and Domestic Violence Leave.
3) Train your managers on the new leave entitlement.
If you would like assistance with developing or updating your Family and Domestic Violence Leave policy, please reach out to HR On Demand.
- Email Address: hrondemand@talentcodehr.com.au
- Phone: 1300 55 99 62
- Set up a meeting: this link