According to the national employment standards, all employees are entitled to annual leave and long service leave, to the exclusion of casual employees.
Annual Leave
Annual leave cannot be taken on public holidays or in conjunction with any other form of leave. Annual leave accumulates from year to year, depending on ordinary hours of work.
Employees are entitled to 4 weeks paid annual leave or 5 weeks paid annual leave for shift-workers. To be eligible for the 5 weeks paid annual leave, the employee must work in an environment where shifts are continuously rostered for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and the employee must regularly work on Sundays and public holidays.
Annual leave cannot be unreasonably refused by an employer. Whilst on leave, the employer must pay the employee their base rate of pay for the ordinary hours of work that would have been completed. Upon termination of employment, the employer must pay the employee any untaken leave. In a transfer of employment situation, the new employer may choose not to recognise the employee’s service with the other employer, or pay untaken annual leave. Leave can be cashed out, however it must comply with terms in Modern Awards and Enterprise Agreements. Leave cannot be cashed our if the accumulated amount of annual leave is less than 4 weeks.
Long Service Leave
Unless an agreement dealing with long service leave was in place before 2009, employees are entitled to long service leave if there are applicable award derived long service leave terms. Agreement-derived long-service leave terms are valid if there are no applicable award-derived long service leave terms in relation to the employee.
How can Prime Lawyers help you?
For more information on yoru entitlement to annual leave and to speak with a solicitor, please call us on (02) 9521 2222. The employment law solicitors at Prime are experienced in employment matters and can provide you with professional advice following careful consideration of your situation.