Test your knowledge - employee leave entitlements.

An employee has asked for paid carer’s leave to care for a sick pet. Is the employee entitled to personal/carer’s leave in this situation?

An employee gave their employer a medical certificate, after a period of two weeks of annual leave. The medical certificate covered the employee for four days of illness during their annual leave. Is the employee entitled to annual leave or personal leave for the four sick days?

Answer: the employee is entitled to personal leave for the four sick days and four days’ adjustment to their annual leave balance.

An employee went to a pre-planned dental appointment during work time, then came to work with evidence of their attendance. What type of leave, if any, does the employer allocate to this?

Answer: the employee is paid from their annual leave balance or must use unpaid leave because the appointment was pre-planned, not an emergency, and the employee was fit to return to work following the appointment.

What type of leave applies if the employee in the previous question has a wisdom tooth removed or a deep filling performed whilst at the pre-planned dental appointment, which then makes them unfit to return to work after the appointment?

Answer: personal leave will be used from the time the employee becomes unfit for work, provided they are able to provide adequate evidence, such as a medical certificate from the dentist.

Can an employer ask a permanent employee to provide evidence before paying compassionate leave?

Answer: yes, the employer can ask the employee for evidence, which includes a funeral notice or a newspaper notice.

If an employee is on annual leave that falls over a public holiday, are they paid for the public holiday or does this count as annual leave?

Answer: employees are entitled to be paid their ordinary hours for public holidays. Therefore, the employee would be paid for the public holiday, rather than the leave being deducted from their annual leave balance.

If the unfortunate circumstance arises that an employee’s parent is admitted to hospital with a life threatening illness, recovers briefly and then subsequently passes away, how much compassionate leave would the employee be entitled to?

Answer: In this circumstance, the employee would be entitled to four days of compassionate leave because there would be two ‘occasions’ giving rise to the eligibility for compassionate leave – the first being the member sustaining a life threatening illness and being admitted to hospital, and the second being when that family member passes away.