The High Court of Australia has today handed down its judgement in the appeal of AMWU v Mondelez regarding personal leave accrual rules for part-time employees.

The original decision (see our earlier article) suggested that the correct interpretation of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) was that all permanent employees, including those engaged on a part-time basis, were entitled to ten full days paid personal/carer’s leave (“sick leave”) per year, no matter how many hours they worker.

In other words, the decision suggested that a part-time employee who worked one day per week would, in effect, be entitled to 10 weeks paid leave per year (1 day per week x 10 = 10 weeks).

The High Court has now reversed this position and confirmed the entitlement to “10 days” of paid personal/carer’s leave for full-time employees should be calculated by reference to a day meaning 7.6 hours (as full-time employees generally work 5 days a week of 7.6 hours per day). This means full-time employees are entitled to 76 hours of personal/carer’s leave per year.

The court confirmed that part-time employees accrue leave on a pro-rata basis of a full-time employee. The exact entitlement is calculated by taking the total amount of ordinary hours they work in a year and dividing by 26. For full-time employees this equates to 76 hours, for part-time employees the figure will be less.

This is a welcome outcome for employers who would otherwise face an increase in the personal/carer’s leave owed to employees.

We will be considering the case in more detail and follow up with any further learnings.

A copy of the full judgment is available here.

 

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The information provided in these blog articles is general in nature and is not intended to substitute for professional advice. If you are unsure about how this information applies to your specific situation we recommend you contact Employment Innovations for advice.

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