The Federal Court of Australia has recently made a decision on the amount of personal/carer’s leave that part time employees are entitled to. It has been determined that full-time and part-time employees are both entitled to 10 working days of paid personal leave for each year of employment. Historically, part time employees were only entitled to an amount of personal leave calculated on a pro-rata basis based on the amount of days worked in the year. For example, someone who only worked 4 days per week was only entitled for 80% of the personal leave available to a full time employee, being 8 days.

It is important that this the personal leave taken by part time employees is closely monitored in order to ensure that this won’t be exploited by employees to take advantage of the additional days. The guidelines around when this leave can be taken and the requirements in that regard haven’t changed. This decision is currently being appealed, however for the time being, this is law.

If you have any questions or concerns with regards to how this will affect you, please contact our team.