Employees of small business employers (employers with fewer than 15 employees) can now access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period as from 1st August 2023. This leave is available to full-time, part-time and casual employees and is not pro-rated.
Employees of all other employers could access this leave from 1 February 2023.
What you need to know about the leave
10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave is now available to employees of small business employers.
Full-time, part-time and casual employees can take 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period (it isn’t pro-rated for part-time or casual employees).
All 10 days are available upfront – an employee doesn’t accrue it.
It’s a separate paid leave entitlement, like paid annual leave or paid sick and carer’s leave.
Employers must not include certain information on an employee’s pay slip about taking paid family and domestic violence leave.
An employee’s entitlement to this leave renews every year on the employee’s work anniversary. It doesn’t accumulate from year to year if it isn’t used.
There are rules about how information about paid family and domestic violence leave must be reported on pay slips and what information must not be included. This is to reduce the risk to an employee’s safety when accessing paid family and domestic violence leave.
Full-time and part-time employees are paid their full pay rate for the hours they would have worked if they weren’t on the leave.
Casual employees are paid their full pay rate for the hours they were rostered to work in the period they took the leave. If a casual employee takes the leave during a period they weren’t rostered to work, they don’t need to be paid for that period.
Employers should also make sure that pay slips do not mention paid family and domestic violence leave.
If not already in place, workplaces should commence developing a family and domestic violence policy including any documentation required by the employer.
An excellent resource can be found at
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/sites/default/files/migration/1414/employer-...
Support services
1800RESPECT is the national domestic, family and sexual violence counselling, information and support service. If you or someone you know is experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, domestic, family or sexual violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.
In case of emergency, call 000.