Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave - now applicable to small business owners

The National Employment Standards are a set of minimum standards of employment that are considered so fundamental that they can't be displaced. 

Before the introduction of paid family and domestic violence leave, eligible employees could access 5 days unpaid family and domestic violence leave. This leave entitlement is no longer available but all national system employees can access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave each year. This includes full-time, part-time, and casual employees.

The entitlement to paid family and domestic violence leave is a stand-alone entitlement and is separate from annual and personal carer’s leave.

To access paid family and domestic violence leave, the employee:

• must be experiencing family and domestic violence, and
• needs to do something to deal with the impact, and
• it’s impractical to do that thing outside the employee’s working hours.
  

The definition of “family and domestic violence” includes conduct of a “close relative” or “member of an employee’s household, or a current or former intimate partner of an employee”. 

Further, the rate of pay that an employee is entitled to when taking paid family and domestic violence leave, is the “employee’s full rate of pay, worked out as if the employee had not taken the period of leave”. 

These provisions now also apply to small business employers from 1 August 2023. 

This paid leave entitlement does not accumulate from year to year but is available in full immediately and resets on their anniversary. Employers should note the obligation to keep information confidential and not include certain information about taking paid family and domestic violence leave on an employee’s payslip. 

Disclaimer: This summary is a guide only and is not legal advice. For further information, call ECA Legal on (08) 6241 6129 or email ecalegal@ecawa.org.au.