An employer’s guide to sick leave

Watch our short video for an intro into how sick and carer’s leave works. It covers when employees can take leave, how it accrues and what notice and evidence is required to use sick/carer’s leave.

How much paid sick and carer’s leave can an employee take at once?

An employee can take as much paid sick or carer's leave as they’ve accumulated. There’s no minimum or maximum amount of accrued paid sick or carer's leave that an employee can take at one time.

?

What if an employee doesn’t have enough paid sick leave accrued and they’re unable to work because they’re sick or injured?

The employee can use other types of leave like annual leave or take unpaid leave. We recommend talking to the employee (if possible) about their leave balance and what options they have if they need more time off. Remember, you have to get an employee’s agreement before debiting their annual leave.

?

If an employee asks to use their annual leave because they’ve run out of sick leave, the?rules about how it’s paid and when you can refuse an annual leave request apply. See our annual leave page for more info.

?

What happens if an employee is off work for a long period of time due to an illness or injury?

Employees who are absent from work because they're sick or injured may be protected from being dismissed, even if their paid sick leave entitlement has run out.

?

Under the Fair Work Act, employees who can provide evidence of their illness or injury are protected from being dismissed because of their absence if they’re:

• away for less than 3 consecutive months or less than 3 months in total over the last 12 months, or
• still using their paid sick leave.

Visit our website to learn more about long periods of sick leave .

?

Are medical certificates the only acceptable form of evidence for taking sick and carer’s leave?

No, a medical certificate is an example of an acceptable form of evidence but there are no strict rules on what type of evidence needs to be given. Any evidence used for sick and carer’s leave will be sufficient if it would?convince a reasonable person that the employee was genuinely entitled to the sick or carer’s leave. Another example is a statutory declaration.

?

What if an employee has a lot of sick and carer’s leave, can it be cashed out?

Generally no, employees can only cash out their accrued sick and carer’s leave if their award or enterprise agreement allows them to do so. There are only two modern awards that allow for the cashing out of sick leave.

?

If the award or enterprise agreement does allow an employee to cash out their sick and carer’s leave, they also have to meet the following requirements:

• there has to be a written ?agreement each time leave is cashed out
• the employee must have a balance of at least 15 days of untaken paid sick and carer's leave remaining after cashing out, and
• the employee must be paid at least the full amount they would have been paid if they actually took the leave they have forgone.

?

Learn more about cashing out sick leave .?

?

Useful resources

Visit our sick and carer’s leave web page for useful info to help you manage sick and carer’s leave. Other resources on our website include the:

• Leave Calculator
• Record Keeping online learning course
• Small Business Website
• Employer Advisory Service (EAS).