10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave
All full-time, part-time and casual employees will be entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave (FADV Leave) in a twelve month period.
Employees will be entitled to the full 10 days upfront, meaning they won’t have to accumulate it over time. FADV Leave won’t accumulate from year to year if it isn’t used.
The new FADV Leave entitlement will be available from:
- 1 February 2023, for employees of non-small business employers
- 1 August 2023, for employees of small business employers (employers that employ less than 15 employees).
Employees can still access 5 days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave until the new paid FADV Leave entitlement becomes available to them as per the above dates.
How FADV Leave renews
FADV Leave renews every year on each employee’s work anniversary. It doesn’t accumulate from year to year if it isn’t used.
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 for their first day. FADV 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).
Taking family and domestic violence leave
Employees (including part-time and casual employees) can take paid FADV Leave if they need to do something to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence and it’s not practical for them to do so during their work hours. This could include, for example, the employee:
- making arrangements for their safety, or the safety of a close relative (including relocation)
- attending court hearings
- accessing police services
- attending counselling
- attending appointments with medical, financial or legal professionals.
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, or
- a person related to the employee according to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander kinship rules.
Payment for leave
Full-time and part-time employees can take paid FADV 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.
Interaction with other paid leave
An employee can use paid FADV Leave during a period of paid personal/carer’s or annual leave. If this happens, the employee is no longer on the other form of paid leave and is taking paid FADV Leave instead. The employee needs to give their employer the required notice and evidence.
Notice and evidence requirements
If an employee takes paid FADV Leave, they have to let their employer know as soon as possible. This could be after the leave has started. An employer can ask their employee for evidence to show that the employee needs to do something to deal with family and domestic violence and it’s not practical to do that outside their hours of work.
An employer can only use this information to satisfy themselves that the employee is entitled to FADV Leave, unless:
- the employee consents
- the employer is required to deal with the information by law, or
- it’s necessary to protect the life, health or safety of the employee or another person.
The employer can’t use the information for other purposes, including to take adverse action against the employee.
All other rules about notice and evidence are the same as the currents rule for taking unpaid family and domestic violence leave.
