Family and Domestic Violence Leave
The Fair Work Commission approved a new unpaid leave entitlement for employees dealing with family and domestic violence. This came into effect on 1 August 2018.
The New Entitlement
Employees covered by an award that includes this clause are entitled to 5 days unpaid leave each year.
Note: This leave is unpaid.
Criteria
For domestic and family violence situations – those involving violent, threatening, or abusive behaviour by members of the employees' family.
The criteria include (but are not limited to) the following:
- making arrangements for safety for themselves or family member
- attendance at court hearings
- accessing police service
Eligibility
This can directly involve the employee themselves in the situation, or they may be helping another family member deal with the situation.
All employees – including casuals that are covered by industry or occupation award – will be covered. It does not apply to employees who are covered by:
- enterprise awards
- state reference public sector awards
- enterprise and other registered agreements
- or are award and agreement free
Impact of Unpaid Leave
You may find some businesses will pay their employees for taking time off for family violence, however if it is unpaid leave, then all other entitlements stop accruing. Therefore, this does disadvantage the employee, as they will receive less annual, personal, and long service leave. Equally, if the day off falls on a public holiday, then there is a chance that the public holiday is unpaid as well.
Bookkeeping for New Entitlement
Set up in the accounting software a Wage Category for Family and Domestic Violence when it is required to be used to keep track of days used. The category will require the following:
- setup as hours/days @ zero value
- exempt from holiday leave entitlement
- exempt from personal leave entitlement
- exempt from long service leave entitlement
- exempt from Superannuation Guarantee
Therefore, a pay including a day of domestic violence would look like this:
| Employee: [Employee Name] | Pay Period: ##/##/## to ##/##/## | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll Category | Hours | Account | Amount |
| Hourly Wage | 30.4 | Wages and Salaries | $1169.23 |
| Family Domestic Violence | 7.6 | Wages and Salaries | $0.00 |
| Less: PAYG Withholding | −$241.00 | ||
| Net Pay | $928.23 | ||
| Annual Leave Accrual | 2.338 | ||
| Personal Leave Accrual | 1.169 | ||
| Superannuation Guarantee | $111.08 | ||
Note: Normal Annual Leave accrual for 38 hours weekly is 2.923, and Personal Leave is 1.4612