Unpaid Family & Domestic Violence Leave – Applicable from August 2018

Further to the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC) decision of March this year to introduce an annual entitlement of up to five days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave for award-reliant employees, the FWC has released the finalised version of the model clause on 9 July.

Once draft variation determinations are issued in the coming days (these will vary every Modern Award to include the model clause) submissions on the drafts will be accepted over a 14-day period with the intent being the determinations will be finalised within July, allowing for the new clause to become operative from ppc 1 August 2018.

The five days’ unpaid leave per annum 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 of their ordinary hours of work.”

The unpaid leave entitlement will be available in full to all employees – including casuals – at the commencement of each 12-month period (instead of accruing progressively throughout a year of service); will not accumulate from year to year; and, will be available in full (i.e. not pro-rated) to part-time and casual employees.

When final determinations to vary each Modern Award are published (likely to be in late-July), Employer Services (ES) will amend each Modern Award accordingly. ES clients will receive an email notification when a Modern Award they subscribe to has been updated on the ES website.

ES clients who have  questions about this information are invited to contact us on (07) 3220 3500 or try live chat while online.