EMPLOYEES will be able to take up to 10 days carer’s leave per year out of existing sick leave accruals, under a recent deal struck between employer groups and the ACTU.
EMPLOYEES will be able to take up to 10 days carer’s leave per year out of existing sick leave accruals, under a recent deal struck between employer groups and the ACTU.
The deal came after the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) recommended a settlement to the ACTU’s claim for an additional five days of paid carer’s leave per year and an unlimited ‘reasonable’ amount of unpaid leave to deal with family emergencies.
The recommended settlement does not involve any additional days of leave, but allows a greater proportion of the existing sick leave entitlement to be used for caring purposes, subject to stringent notice and evidentiary requirements.
The leave will also be available for unplanned caring emergencies.
The ACTU unsuccessfully sought an additional five days paid leave each year in addition to all existing leave entitlements and rights to unpaid leave for a variety of personal reasons.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Peter Hendy said the outcome adopts a sensible approach based on a more flexible use of existing leave entitlements.
“Claims by ACCI members for greater flexibility in personal leave by agreement between employer and employee will also form part of the negotiated settlement,” he said.
“This will provide useful recognition in the award system of the role that agreed solutions can play in assisting work and family balance.”
The deal also ensured that existing proof and notice requirements for carer’s leave will remain.
“This will provide employers with significant protections against abuse of these entitlements,” he said.
ACTU president Sharan Burrow said the deal was an important breakthrough for working families and one that recognised the need to make working arrangements in Australia more family friendly.
“These arrangements will be welcomed by Australian workers as a step in the right direction,” she said.
“The proposals recognise that as a community we must find better ways to balance the demands of work with our responsibilities outside the workplace.”
She said the new arrangement would also be useful for workers who need to take time off to care for ageing or disabled relatives.
Burrow cited a recent Newspoll survey commissioned by the ACTU, which found that time off for family emergencies is the top priority for one in four people.
“The new arrangements are part of an ACTU campaign to make Australian workplaces more family friendly,” she said.
In a ‘work and family’ test case to be heard later this year, unions will be seeking flexible working hours and holiday times to accommodate school and childcare, a choice to work part time, and the extension of unpaid parental leave from 12 to 24 months.
Heather Ridout, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, said the outcome also resulted in a much simpler structure for award sick and carer’s leave clauses.
“The existing provisions have been causing great difficulties for employers due to their complexity,” she said.
“The settlement results in a win-win outcome for employers and employees.”
Before the new arrangements come into effect they must be approved by a Full Bench of the Commission, as part of the ‘work and family’ test case. Hearings commence in the case in August this year and are expected to continue throughout 2004.
Therefore, the new arrangements are unlikely to apply before next year.
