Personal and Carer’s Leave Entitlements: What You Need to Know
Understanding your Personal and Carer’s Leave entitlements is essential for maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Employers provide this paid leave when an employee must support themselves or an immediate family member during an illness or injury.
Defining Your Immediate Family
To access these Personal and Carer’s Leave entitlements, you must first understand who qualifies as an immediate family member. This category includes:
- Children and grandchildren.
- Siblings and parents.
- Grandparents.
- Spouses or former spouses.
- De facto partners or former de facto partners.
- Immediate family members of a current or former spouse or de facto partner.
How Personal and Carer’s Leave Entitlements Accrue
Leave accrual depends heavily on your employment status. For example, a permanent full-time employee typically accrues 10 days of leave per year. On the other hand, permanent part-time employees accrue leave on a pro rata basis according to their ordinary weekly hours.
Employers pay this leave at the employee’s base rate. However, this payment usually excludes penalties or loading unless an award or contract states otherwise. Furthermore, while permanent staff receive paid leave, casual employees are entitled to two days of unpaid carer’s leave for each required occasion.
Important Rules on Accrual and Termination
Note that Personal and Carer’s Leave entitlements continue to grow throughout your employment. However, you will stop accruing leave if you are on specific types of unpaid leave, such as:
- Unpaid annual leave.
- Unpaid parental leave.
- Unpaid family and domestic violence leave.
Additionally, you should remember that employers do not pay out unused personal leave when your employment ends.
Documentation and Notice Requirements
If you need to use your Personal and Carer’s Leave entitlements, you should notify your employer as soon as possible. Consequently, you must include the expected duration of the leave and your anticipated return date.
Most workplaces require reasonable supporting documentation to approve the leave. Therefore, you can provide evidence through:
- A medical certificate.
- A letter from a registered practitioner.
- A signed statutory declaration stating you are “unfit for work.”
If you exhaust your paid leave, you might still access two additional days of unpaid leave. Ultimately, you and your employer can negotiate the use of alternative leave if you need more time to care for an immediate family member.
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