FAMILY AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE POLICY AND LEAVE ENTITLEMENT

There have been several amendments to the employment landscape at the start of 2023. One such amendment is the entitlement to paid family and domestic violence leave for all employees (including full-time, part-time, and casual employees).

THIS NEW ENTITLEMENT WILL BE AVAILABLE TO EMPLOYEES FROM:

Non-small business employers (employers with 15 or more employees)

Small business employers (employers with 14 or less employees)

1 February 2023

1 August 2023

An employee will be able to access the family and domestic violence leave type if they:

• experience family and domestic violence;

• need to do something to deal with the impact of that violence; and

• it is impractical to deal with that violence outside their ordinary hours of work.

Such examples may include:

• making arrangements for their safety and the safety of a close relative, such as a dependent child (including relocation);

• attending urgent court hearings; and

• accessing police services.

An employee does not have to use their other leave entitlements (such as personal/carer’s leave or annual leave) prior to accessing the family and domestic violence leave.

What Should Employers Be Doing? Payroll

Now is the time to prepare for this new leave entitlement and be setting up their payroll systems to account for this leave entitlement as the leave type will not be able to state ‘Family and Domestic Violence Leave’ as this could be a trigger for the perpetrator.

Policy

Additionally, businesses will need to develop and implement a family and domestic violence policy to their employees to outline what the entitlement is, what processes are required and what support services are available. MPAQ has developed an example policy for our contracting members who have employees.

MPAQ members who would like further information and access to an example of family and domestic violence policy, please contact our HR team on 07 3273 0800.