New Paid Leave Entitlement to Employees

The Fair Work Amendments (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Act 2022 has been passed through the House of Representatives. This means, employees (including casual and part-time employees) will be entitled to a non-accumulating 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave per annum. 

The new leave entitlements will apply from: 

Non-Small Business Employers
(employers with 15 or more employees) ----- 1 February 2023

Small Business Employers
(employers with 14 or less employees) ------- 1 August 2023

Under this Act, employees (including casuals and part-time employees) will be able to take family and domestic violence leave if they: 

• experience family and domestic violence; and 
• need to do something to deal with the impact of that violence; and 
• it is impractical to deal with that violence outside their ordinary hours of work. 

The Fair Work Act 2009 currently defines “family and domestic violence” to mean “violent, threatening or other abusive behaviour by a close relative of an employee that seeks to coerce or control the employee or causes the employee harm or to be fearful”. The amended Act extends the definition of “family and domestic violence” to include conduct of “a member of an employee’s household, or a current or former intimate partner of an employee”. An employee may take this leave for purposes of (for example and this is not limited to the following circumstances): 

• making arrangements for their safety and the safety of a close relative, such as a dependent child (including relocation); 
• attending urgent court hearings; and 
• accessing police services

To access this leave entitlement, employees will be required to provide their employer with practicable notice of their intention to take the leave and for the expected length of the leave. An employer may ask an employee to provide reasonable evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person of their need to take family and domestic violence leave. Some examples may include: 

• documents issued by policy or the court 
• family violence support services documents 
• statutory declarations 

If an employee does not comply with the employers request for reasonable evidence, this may result in them not being able to access this type of leave. 

What should employers be doing? 
Employers need to be aware of these legislative changes and how they are going to provide for this type of leave in their payroll system. It is also recommended for employers to update employees employment contracts and relevant leave policies before 1 February 2023. All new employees will also need to be provided with the updated Fair Work and Casual employment information statements which will reflect the new paid leave entitlement.  

For further information or any questions relating to this article, please contact our Human Resources team on 07 3273 0800.