Sch 3Minimum standard for sick leave/carer's leave

Schedule 3—Minimum standard for sick leave/carer's leave continuous service means continuous service under a contract of employment and includes a period of paid leave taken under this Act or under an award or enterprise agreement; full pay means remuneration for ordinary hours of work (not including payments in the nature of penalty rates, overtime, allowances or loadings). 2—Application of standard This Schedule does not apply to a person who is engaged and paid as a casual employee. 3—Accrual of sick leave entitlement (1) An employee's entitlement to sick leave accrues as follows— (a) for the first year of continuous service—entitlement to sick leave accrues at the rate of 5/26 of one day for each completed week; and (b) for each later year of continuous service—an entitlement to 10 days' sick leave accrues at the beginning of each year. (2) An employee's sick leave credit is worked out by adding any unexpended sick leave entitlement that had accrued to the employee before the employee became subject to this Schedule and any unexpended entitlement that accrues under this Schedule. (3) Any sick leave taken by the employee is deducted from the employee's sick leave credit. 4—Taking sick leave (1) An employee who has a sick leave credit is entitled to take sick leave if the employee is too sick to work. (2) An employee who has a sick leave credit, and who is on annual leave, is entitled to take sick leave instead of annual leave if the person is too sick to work for a period of at least three days. (3) However, the employee is not entitled to take sick leave unless— (a) the employee gives the employer notice of the sickness, its nature and estimated duration before the period for which sick leave is sought begins (but if the nature or sudden onset of the sickness makes it impracticable to give the notice before the period begins, the notice is validly given if given as soon as practicable and not later than 24 hours after the period begins); and (b) the employee, at the request of the employer, provides a medical certificate or other reasonable evidence of the sickness. (4) Sick leave taken during a period of annual leave does not count as annual leave. (5) An employee may take sick leave for a part of a day in a block of 1 or more hours. (6) The following provisions apply in connection with subsection (5): (a) if a period of sick leave exceeds 1 hour but does not equal a whole number of hours, the fraction of an hour will be taken to be a whole hour; and (b) when the number of hours taken as sick leave under subsection (5) equals the number of hours usually worked by the employee in a day, then the employee will be taken to have taken 1 day's sick leave. 5—Sick leave to be on full pay (1) A full-time employee is entitled to full pay for a period of sick leave. (2) A part-time employee is entitled to pro-rata pay for a period of sick leave. 6—Carer's leave (1) An employee with an accrued entitlement to sick leave under a preceding section may use up to 5 days of that entitlement in each year to care for and support members of the employee's family when they are sick. (2) The employee must, if practicable before taking leave under this section, give the employer notice of— (a) the employee's intention to take the leave; and (b) the reason for the leave; and (c) the name of the person requiring the care and that person's relationship to the employee; and (d) the time the employee expects to be absent, but if it is not possible to give the notice before commencing the leave, the employee must give the notice as soon as practicable in the circumstances. (3) The employee must, if required by the employer, produce reasonable evidence of the sickness and the need for the employee's care. (4) An employee is, while taking leave under this section, entitled to pay at the same rate as if he or she was on sick leave.