What Do I Need to Know?

Small business employees can now access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period. Employees of non-small businesses could access the leave from 1 February 2023. Small businesses are businesses with less than 15 employees. This change was introduced under the Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Act 2022, which changed the provisions for family domestic and family violence leave as outlined by the National Employment Standards (NES). The National Employment Standards (NES) are a set of minimum standards that must be given to all employees in Australia – regardless of the applicable award, registered agreement or employment contract that applies. It’s important to note that casual employees, however, only get some entitlements under the NES. There are certain state/territory laws that provide them with eligibility for entitlements such as long service leave, and there are also conditions that must be met for casual employees to access entitlements such as flexible work requests and parental leave – you can find more information in our article about employment terms & conditions and our free guide to casual employment entitlements. The entitlement for paid family and domestic violence leave (“FDV leave”) is found within the NES. Before the introduction of this new amendment, employees could request a maximum of 5 days unpaid family and domestic violence leave within a 12-month period, only accessible by employees that met certain conditions. This new Bill amends this entitlement so that all employees – including casuals – can access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave within a 12-month period. Further, the 10 days of leave are provided upfront from the employee’s commencement date, and it renews on the employee’s work anniversary. For example, if you had an individual begin employment with you today, they would have access to the 10 days FDV leave from day 1, and it would renew again this time next year and so on. Note that it’s not a leave entitlement that accumulates over time nor is it ‘carried/rolled over’ from one year to the next.

What Do I Need to Do?

Small business employers need to be aware of the following:

• Expansion of the leave – it’s 10 days now, not the former 5.
• Change of leave from unpaid to paid – FDV leave used to be unpaid, now employees can request up to 10 days paid FDV leave.
• Change in applicability – casuals are now also able to request FDV leave, and the pay is calculated on their full rate of pay not their base rate.
• Expansion of employee access of FDV leave through the extension of definition to include behaviour of employees former and/or current partners and/or unrelated household members.

The most important thing for employers to do considering these changes is to ensure that all registered employment agreements, employment contracts, and any workplace policies and procedures are updated to reflect the changes. Further, all staff should be made aware of the changes and their new entitlements. For information on notice and evidence required for accessing the FDV leave, have a look at the Fair Work Ombudsman’s website here. If you are a non-small business employer, please note that this change has already been effect for your workplace since February 2023.