Employees of the College are employed according to the provisions of the Educational Services (Post-Secondary Education) Award 2010 and the Fair Work Act 2009. Long Service Leave is given under the provisions of the Victorian Long Service Leave Act 1992.
To outline staff leave entitlements.
This policy applies to all casual and permanent College staff.
Hours of Work
A full time position requires 37.5 hours per week and is generally worked between 9.00am and 5.00pm Monday to Friday.
Leave Types
- Annual Leave
- Personal/Carer’s Leave and Compassionate Leave
- Community Service Leave
- Long Service Leave
- Parental Leave
- Study Leave (including conference and seminar leave)
How to apply for leave
All applications for leave should be made using the Leave Application Form on the College website.
Annual Leave
Annual Leave is one of the ten National Employment Standards entitlements. Full time employees are entitled to 4 weeks paid leave per year (pro-rata for part time employees).
Staff may not accumulate more than 6 weeks annual leave (pro-rata for part time employees).
Personal/Carer’s Leave and Compassionate Leave
Personal/Carer’s Leave and Compassionate Leave are part of the ten National Employment Standards entitlements. The minimum entitlement to paid Personal/Carer’s Leave for an employee (other than a casual employee) is 10 days per year (pro-rata for part time employees).
Personal/Carer’s Leave
An employee (other than a casual employee) may take paid Personal/Carer’s Leave:
- If they are unfit for work because of their own personal illness or injury, or
- To provide care or support to a member of their immediate family or household, because of a personal illness, injury or unexpected emergency affecting the member. A member of the employee’s immediate family means a spouse, de facto partner, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of an employee; or a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the employee’s spouse or de facto partner.
Employees should notify the College as soon as practicable that they are taking Personal or Carer’s Leave and advise the period or expected period of absence. The College may request evidence to substantiate your reason for leave.
Unpaid Carer’s Leave
An employee (including a casual employee) is entitled to two days of unpaid Carer’s Leave for each occasion when a member of the employee’s immediate family or household requires care or support because of a personal illness, injury or an unexpected emergency. Full time and part time employees cannot however take unpaid Carer’s Leave if they could instead take paid personal/carer’s Leave.
Compassionate Leave
An employee (including a casual employee) is entitled to two days of compassionate leave to spend time with a member of their immediate family or household who has sustained a life-threatening illness or injury. Compassionate Leave may also be taken after the death of a member of the employee’s immediate family or household. Compassionate Leave for each occasion may be taken as: * A single continuous two day period or * Two separate periods of one day each or * Any separate periods agreed between you and the College.
Community Service Leave
Community Service Leave is one of the ten National Employment Standards entitlements. An employee is entitled to leave for jury service and unpaid leave for voluntary emergency activities.
Long Service Leave
Long Service Leave is granted according to the Victorian Long Service Leave Act 1992. The Act provides that an employee with continuous employment with one employer is entitled to 13 weeks paid Long Service Leave, taken as a break from work without loss of pay, at 15 years.
An employee is entitled to take Long Service Leave after 10 years of continuous employment with one employer. The entitlement is calculated on a pro-rata basis.
Where possible, staff should provide at least 6 months’ notice of their intended leave dates.
- Administration staff must receive approval for Long Service Leave from their Supervisor and the Executive Director of Operations.
- Academic staff (other than School Heads) must receive approval for Long Service Leave from their School Head and the Principal.
- School Heads must receive approval for Long Service Leave from the Principal.
- The College Principal must seek approval for Long Service Leave from the Board.
The Act provides that the period of leave can be split into no more than 3 periods.
Parental Leave
Parental Leave is one of the ten National Employment Standards entitlements. Employees are eligible for unpaid Parental Leave if they have completed at least 12 months of continuous service. Casual employees may also be eligible under certain conditions.
There are rules in regard to what notice and evidence you must give your employer if you intend to take Parental Leave, which employees are eligible for Parental Leave, what the Parental Leave entitlements are, and extending unpaid Parental Leave. If you are considering taking Parental Leave speak to the Chief Operations Office for further information and/or read the fact sheet on the Fair Work Ombudsman’s website.
Employees (including casual employees) may also have an entitlement to the federal government’s paid parental leave scheme. This is a federal government scheme managed by the Family Assistance Office. This scheme provides Government-funded Parental Leave Pay at the National Minimum Wage for a maximum period of 18 weeks to employees who meet the eligibility criteria. For more information, you can visit the Family Assistance Office’s website or contact the Family Assistance Office on 13 61 50.
Study Leave
The College has a Study Leave policy (including conference and seminar leave) which is part of the Professional Development Policy for all staff.