PART 2 – GENERAL CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
14. LEAVE WITH PAY
14.1 Examinations
An Employee shall be entitled to leave with pay to attend compulsory examinations in courses of study relevant to the Employee’s classification under this Agreement.
14.2 Degrees and diplomas
An Employee shall be entitled to leave with pay for the purposes of having an appropriate degree/diploma or other approved qualification conferred on him or her in courses of study relevant to the Employee’s classification under this Agreement.
14.3 Infectious diseases
An Employee shall be entitled to leave with pay when the Employee contracts one of the following infectious diseases through a contact in the workplace and where the Principal/Employer is satisfied that the disease is prevalent in the workplace: German measles, chicken pox, measles, mumps, glandular fever, scarlet fever, whooping cough, rheumatic fever, hepatitis. The Employee must produce a medical certificate which specifically names the disease and the Employee shall request in writing that the leave not be debited against sick leave.
14.4 Jury service
14.4.1 An Employee required under the Juries Act 2000 (Vic) to appear and serve as a juror in any court shall be entitled to be granted leave with pay for the period during which attendance at court is required.
14.4.2 An Employee must provide written proof to the Employer of the requirement to attend for jury service and an estimate of the duration of the absence from duty if given by the court.
14.4.3 Any payments made to the Employee by Court Authorities with respect to jury service by way of a prescribed rate of remuneration but excluding allowances shall be reimbursed to the Employer.
14.5 Personal leave – general provisions
The provisions of this clause apply to full-time and regular part-time Employees but do not apply to casual Employees. The entitlements of casual employees are set out in clause 9.5.
14.5.1 Amount of paid personal leave:
14.5.1(a) Paid personal leave will be available to an Employee, when they are absent due to:
due to personal illness or injury (sick leave); or for the purposes of caring for an immediate family or household member who is sick and requires the Employee’s care and support or who requires the employee’s care due to an unexpected emergency (carer’s leave).
14.5.1(b) Personal leave of fifteen days will be available in the first and subsequent years of service.
14.5.1(c) In any year unused personal leave accrues at the rate of the lesser of:
14.5.1(c)(i) fifteen days sick leave per year less the amount of sick leave taken from the current year’s personal entitlement in that year; or
14.5.1(c)(ii) the balance of that year’s unused sick leave.
14.5.2 Immediate family or household
14.5.2(a) The entitlement to use personal leave for the purposes of carer’s leave is subject to the person being either;
14.5.2(a)(i) a member of the Employee’s immediate family; or
14.5.2(a)(ii) a member of the Employee’s household.
14.5.2(b) The term immediate family includes:
14.5.2(b)(i) spouse (including a former spouse, a de facto spouse and a former de facto spouse) of the Employee who lives with the Employee as his or her husband or wife on a bona fide domestic basis; and
14.5.2(b)(ii) child or an adult child (including an adopted child, a step child or an ex-nuptial child), parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the Employee or spouse of the Employee.
14.5.3 Personal leave for personal injury or sickness (sick leave)
An Employee shall be entitled to leave with pay when unable to perform duties because of personal ill health or accident provided that:
14.5.3(a) at the commencement of employment, a full-time Employee shall be entitled to fifteen days of sick leave, except where such an Employee commences at a day other than the first day of the school year, in which case such an Employee shall receive a pro-rata entitlement;
14.5.3(b) a full-time Employee shall have fifteen sick leave days added to their entitlement at the beginning of each school year;
14.5.3(c) part-time Employees have a pro-rata entitlement to these fifteen sick days calculated in hours per annum;
14.5.3(c)(i) entitlement per annum = hours employed per week x 3
14.5.3(c)(ii) any unused sick leave at the end of each school year shall be converted to days per annum on the following basis:
14.5.3(c)(ii)(1) Teacher School Adviser, or Category B Placed Teacher
Cumulative days = unused hours ÷ 5 (Primary)
or Cumulative days = unused hours ÷ 4 (Secondary)
14.5.3(c)(ii)(2) School Officer, Education Officer, Senior Education Officer, Catholic Education Office Clerical Employee or Category A Placed Teacher
Cumulative days = unused hours ÷ 7.6
14.5.3(d) any unused sick leave is fully cumulative and portable between Employers bound by this Agreement in respect of those workplaces listed in Appendix 8 of this Agreement (subject to continuous service as defined in clause 23 – Service continuity).
14.5.3(e) Employees on fixed term appointments have a pro-rata entitlement to these fifteen sick days, calculated as a proportion of the term of the contract to a full year’s employment.
14.5.3(f) the Employer shall deduct from the Employee’s sick leave credit to the limit of the credit available;
14.5.3(f)(i) any days or part days for full-time Employees; and
14.5.3(f)(ii) any hours for part-time Employees, when the employee has been absent.
14.5.3(g) the Employee shall produce a certificate of a registered health practitioner or other evidence satisfactory to the Employer/principal for:
14.5.3(g)(i) any absence of more than two consecutive working days;
14.5.3(g)(ii) any absences where the number of sick days already taken without the production of a certificate of a registered health practitioner exceeds ten working days in the one school year (as defined);
14.5.3(g)(iii) any absence on the week day immediately before or immediately after a public holiday so long as that week day is a working day.
14.5.3(h) during an extended period of paid sick leave an Employee may be required to produce a medical certificate every 28 days.
14.5.3(i) the Employee shall not be entitled to paid sick leave;
14.5.3(i)(i) where sick leave credits are exhausted; or
14.5.3(i)(ii) unless that Employee, or the authorised representative or the Employee, within at least two hours after the normal commencement time of that Employee, or as soon as reasonably practicable after that time, notifies the Employer of the Employee’s inability to attend for duty and the estimated duration of the absence.
14.5.3(j) where a full-time Employee changes employment during a school year, and has an entitlement to portability of sick days under 14.5.3(d), the total amount of sick leave credited for that school year shall not exceed fifteen days, or pro-rata for a part-time Employee.
14.5.3(k) an Employee who is unable to perform duties because of personal ill health or accident, and where paid sick leave credits have been exhausted, shall be entitled to unpaid sick leave. This entitlement is subject to the production at least each 28 days of a certificate of a legally qualified medical practitioner or other evidence satisfactory to the Employer.
14.5.4 Personal leave to care for an immediate family or household member (Carer's leave)
14.5.4(a) Subject to 14.5.4(b) and (c) an Employee is entitled to use up to twenty days personal leave each year to care for members of their immediate family or household (as defined in clause 14.5.2) who are sick and require care and support or who require care due to an unexpected emergency. This limit applies to the Employee’s total accrued personal leave which includes any untaken personal leave from the current year’s entitlement and any untaken personal leave which has accumulated from previous years.
14.5.4(a)(i) Notwithstanding the provisions of clause 14.5.4(a) above an Employee who has an accrued entitlement to extended family leave/carer’s leave (accrued during the period July 1995 to January 1999) shall first use that entitlement and may access all or any part of it in one year.
14.5.4(b) The unused entitlement to take personal leave as carer’s leave under 14.5.4(a) which is in excess of the entitlement under the Australian Fair Pay and Conditions standard does not accumulate and each day of carer's’ leave taken diminishes the personal leave entitlement as provided for by clause 14.5.1 of this agreement.
14.5.4(c) Evidence supporting claim
The Employee shall, if required, establish by production of a medical certificate or statutory declaration, the illness of the person concerned and that the Employee is responsible for the care of the person concerned.
14.5.4(d) Employee must give notice
The Employee shall, wherever practicable, give the Employer notice prior to the absence of the intention to take leave, the name of the person requiring care and their relationship to the Employee, the reasons for taking such leave and the estimated length of absence. If it is not practicable for the Employee to give prior notice of absence, the Employee shall notify the Employer by telephone of such absence at the first opportunity on the day of absence.
14.5.4(e) By agreement between an Employer and an individual Employee, the Employee may access an additional amount of their accrued personal leave for carer’s leave as defined at 14.5.4(a) beyond the relevant limit set out above at 14.5.4(a). In such circumstances, the Employer and the Employee shall agree upon the additional amount that may be accessed.
14.5.4(f) Where no personal leave entitlement is available an Employee is entitled to take up to 20 days of carer's leave without pay.
14.5.4(g) Where an Employee has no entitlement to carer's leave (with or without pay) any request for leave for such purposes will be given due consideration by the Employer.
14.5.5 Compassionate Leave
The provisions of this clause apply to full-time and regular part-time Employees (on a pro-rata basis) but do not apply to casual Employees. The entitlements of casual Employees are set out in clause 9.5.
14.5.5(a) Paid leave entitlement
14..5.5(a)(i) An employee, other than a casual Employee, is entitled to up to three days compassionate leave on each occasion on which a member of the Employee’s immediate family or household (as defined in clause 14.5.2) in Australia dies.
14.5.5(a)(ii) An employee, other than a casual Employee, is entitled to up to two days compassionate leave on each occasion on which a member of the Employee’s immediate family or household (as defined in clause 14.5.2) in Australia contacts or develops a personal illness or sustains a personal injury that poses a serious threat to his or her life. The taking of such leave can only occur once for each occasion of injury or illness and may be taken at any time during the injury or illness.
14.5.5(b) Unpaid leave entitlement
Where an Employee has exhausted all bereavement leave entitlements, the Employee will be entitled to three days unpaid bereavement leave.
14.5.5(c) Evidence supporting claim
The Employer may require the employee to provide satisfactory evidence of the death of a member of the Employee’s immediate family.
14.6 Long Service Leave
14.6.1 The entitlement to long service leave is contained in Appendix 6 to this Agreement.
14.7 Sabbatical Leave
14.7.1 An Employee, other than a temporary or casual Employee, may apply to the Employer to participate in an agreed Sabbatical Leave arrangement. The Employer may grant such leave, as a form of leave without pay, taking into account the overall needs of the school. The agreement should be in writing setting out the period of the leave to be taken.
14.7.2 The agreed Sabbatical Leave arrangement will usually take the following form :
14.7.2(a) a 5 year agreement;
14.7.2(b) in the first 4 years wherein the Employer agrees, if requested by the Employee, to transfer some of the Employee's net salary (ordinarily 20%) into an account nominated by the Employee and established for the purpose of funding the Sabbatical Leave;
14.7.2(c) the 5th year as Sabbatical Leave commencing on the first day of Term 1 and continuing until the end of that school year.
14.7.3 The Sabbatical Leave year may be taken in conjunction with other forms of leave, such as Long Service Leave, provided that the period of leave does not exceed one year, unless the Employer and the Employee otherwise agree in writing.
14.7.4 For the purposes of all entitlements under the Agreement, the period of Sabbatical Leave shall be treated as Leave Without Pay taken and granted pursuant to Clause 15 of the Agreement.
14.7.5 Prior to the Sabbatical Leave commencing, if there are exceptional circumstances either the Employer or the Employee may withdraw from the agreed arrangement in which case one whole school term's notice in writing must be given setting out those exceptional circumstances.
Victorian Independent Education Union, 120 Clarendon Street, Southbank 3006. Email vieu@vieu.org.au | Country members toll free 1800 622 889.
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