Sick leave – you thought it was simple?

Whether you’re an employee or an employer, staff leave entitlements can be a minefield.

The Basics – Full-time and part-time employees can take paid sick leave if they can’t work because of a personal illness or injury. Full-time employees are entitled to 10 sick days per year. The leave is pro-rata for part-time employees. Unused sick and carer’s leave is carried over to the next year.

The crucial wording of the above is ‘you weren’t able to work because of an illness or injury’. So, you actually need to be sick and this sickness needs to prevent you from being able to work. An employer can also request evidence you were sick and unable to work eg medical certificate.

While the above definition sounds simple, there’s many instances where sick leave isn’t available. Some of these include:

• Attending pre-arranged medical appointments.  An example of this is if you’re going to the doctor for a check up or for a reason that doesn’t stop you from being able to go to work eg skin check, get test results etc.  That is, you’re not actually sick.
• Having elective surgery
• Going to a specialist appointment
• Going to the dentist
• Pregnancy related appointments except if your pregnancy illness stops you from being able to work

If you’re in doubt of what falls under the ‘sick leave’ entitlement, you should contact Fair Work Australia.

 

Author

Kim Jay