Leave Policy

Overview

The purpose of this Policy is to set out the procedure for employees of ReGen Strategic (the Company) who wish to apply for leave.

This Policy ensures that appropriate resourcing is available throughout the year as well as enabling employees to access opportunities for rest and recreation.

The terms of this policy are consistent the National Employment Standards (NES) as set out in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Act) on leave but does not override the NES.

This Policy applies to all employees in accordance with the NES.

Definitions in this Policy

Who is an ‘employee’?

In this policy, an ‘employee’ of the Company means any person who is paid to carry out work in any capacity for the Company, except workers engaged as independent contractors. This includes work as:

an employee
a manager
a student gaining work experience, and
casual employees. However, casual employees are not entitled to some kinds of leave as under the NES, such as paid personal leave or annual leave. But casual employees are entitled to family and domestic violence leave as referred to in this Policy.

Please note that this Policy does not deal with Parental Leave or Domestic Violence Leave. For information related to Parental Leave, please refer to the Parental Leave Policy. For information related to Domestic Violence Leave, please refer to the Domestic Violence Leave Policy.

“Immediate family member” means a:

spouse, de facto partner, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the employee, or
child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of a spouse or de facto partner of the employee.

“De facto partner” means a person who, although not legally married to the employee, lives with the employee in a relationship as a couple on a genuine domestic basis (whether the employee and the person are of the same sex or difference sexes) and includes a former de facto partner of the employee.

“Child” includes an adopted child, stepchild, an ex-nuptial child and an adult child.

“Close relative” of an employee is a person who:

is a member of the employee’s 'Immediately Family’ (as defined above); or
is related to the employee according to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander kinship rules.

Applying for Leave

All leave requires the completion of an application of leave via Xero. All leave specified in this Policy must be approved by the employee’s direct manager.

Leave must be approved in advance of it being taken, except in circumstances where the absence cannot be reasonably anticipated. Any documents regarding leave will be kept on the employee’s personnel file.

Annual Leave

Accrual of Annual Leave

Employees are encouraged to take their accrued annual leave.

Full-time employees (other than a casual employee) will be entitled to 20 days of annual leave per year.

Part-time employees are entitled to 20 days annual leave on a pro rata basis based on the number of hours works against the full time equivalent.

Casual employees are not entitled to annual leave.

Annual leave accrues progressively during each year of service and accumulates from year to year. Employees can view their annual leave balances on Xero.

The Company may instruct employees to take annual to leave if their accrued balance exceeds six weeks.

Applying for Annual Leave

a leave request must be lodged in Xero and approved by Managing Director
if a leave request is approved, it will appear in Xero. The employee should then enter the leave into relevant calendars as far in advance of taking the leave as possible.
all annual leave should be authorised before holiday bookings are made to avoid disappointment if the leave cannot be accommodated
annual leave will be agreed on a first-come, first-served basis depending on client service delivery requirements and workload, and
as a result, employees are encouraged to lodge their requests at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment.

The Company will approve leave based on the following principles:

if no more than 20 per cent of employees, in total, are scheduled to be on leave at the same time
if other appropriately skilled employees will be available to satisfactorily manage the workload of the employee(s) on leave, and
if the employee will have a positive leave balance at the end of the leave period.

Leave will be approved, subject to compliance with the above requirements and depending on factors including workload, the number of leave requests received for a given period and whether appropriate cover of an employee’s duties can be arranged.

However, the Company will consider extenuating circumstances and will not unreasonably decline a leave application. Each application for leave will be considered individually.

Holiday and shut down periods

An employee may be directed by the Company to take accrued annual leave for any shut-down periods, such as public holidays, or lock-down periods.

Unpaid leave and annual leave in advance

Where an employee requires leave and does not have sufficient entitlements to cover the leave period required, unpaid leave may be approved for that period. Unpaid leave required to cover extended holidays in situations where an employee has exhausted their annual leave entitlements will be approved in accordance with the policy terms in the section below titled ‘Leave Without Pay’.

Subject to any Enterprise Agreement, industrial instrument or Award, employees who have insufficient accrued annual leave to maintain their ordinary rate of pay during a shutdown period may be required to take leave without pay for a maximum of four weeks.

In some circumstances, the Company and an employee may agree for the employee to take a period of paid annual leave before that annual leave has accrued (in advance), such that a negative annual leave balance is accrued. In these circumstances, the Company will require the employee to confirm their agreement to take annual leave in advance, in writing.

In circumstances where an employee’s employment ceases and they have a negative leave balance, the Company may deduct from the employee’s unpaid wages an amount of money to cover the negative leave balance, per the terms of an agreement to take annual leave in advance.

Leave requests that exceed the employee’s accrual, or 20 consecutive days will only be granted in exceptional circumstances and at the discretion of the Managing Director.

Personal / Carer’s Leave

Employees are entitled to 10 days’ paid personal/carer’s leave for each year of service, which accrues progressively and accumulates from year to year.

Employees may use this leave when absent from work due to personal illness or injury or for the purpose of providing care or support to a member of the employee’s immediate family or household who requires care or support because of a personal illness or injury or because of an unexpected emergency affecting the member.

If an employee is absent on personal/carer’s leave for more than one day in succession or on a day immediately before or following a public holiday in the State or Territory in which they work, the employee will be required to provide the Company with a medical certificate completed by a registered medical practitioner to provide evidence of the absence from work due to personal illness or injury or due to a family/household member’s illness or injury.

The Company also reserves its right to request a medical certificate to verify personal/carer’s leave for single day absences.

Compassionate Leave

Employees are entitled to 2 days’ paid compassionate leave on each occasion for the purpose of spending time with a member of an immediate family or household when he or she contracts or develops a personal illness or sustains a personal injury that poses a serious threat to his or her life or after the death of a member of an immediate family or household.
Employees are required to provide notice and documentary evidence in accordance with applicable legislation when taking compassionate leave.

Leave Without Pay

Approval of requests for leave without pay are at the Company’s discretion and are not an entitlement.

Requests will only be considered according to the circumstances that prompt the request and will not be unreasonably withheld. Where a period of unpaid leave is required to supplement a period of personal or carer’s leave, that may be extended upon receipt of supporting medical evidence (i.e. a doctor’s certificate confirming an employee’s work incapacity).

Prior to booking any periods of unpaid leave needed to supplement an annual leave period, employees must seek approval from the Managing Director.

Unpaid leave periods needed to supplement a leave period (other than personal or carer’s leave) will only be granted after consideration of the underlying reasons that justify the request, and the Company’s operational and resourcing requirements at the time. Please do not assume a request for unpaid leave in these circumstances will be approved as approval will only be granted in exceptional circumstances.

Please note, if a period of unpaid leave is granted, employees will not accrue any entitlements for the period of absence.

Jury Duty

An employee (including a casual employee in Western Australia who has a reasonable expectation of employment during the period they are summoned for jury duty) is entitled to paid leave to attend jury duty in accordance with the Juries Act 1957 (WA) and the Juries Regulations 2008 (WA).

An employee who receives a request to attend jury service must supply the official request to attend and the details of attendance as soon as practicable, after receiving the request.

Depending on operational requirements and subject to the law, the Company may seek an exemption for an employee’s attendance to jury duty.

The employee must submit a leave request for the relevant period through Xero.

The employee must also provide to the Company a record of the income the Court paid to them for attending jury duty.

The Company will reimburse the employee the difference between this amount and the leave it is obligated to pay.

Community Service Leave

Employees can take community service leave for certain activities as set out in the Act such as:

voluntary emergency management activities, or
jury duty (including attendance for jury selection).

With the exception of jury duty, community service leave is unpaid.

Long Service Leave

Employees are entitled to long service leave in accordance with relevant state-based legislation.

Employees based in Western Australia may be entitled to long service leave upon completion of 7 years’ continuous service with the Company subject to the requirements of the Long Service Leave Act 1958 (WA).

Other Leave

Employees are not usually expected to work on weekends or public holidays. If there is a business reason to work on these days, the employee may receive time-in-lieu for hours worked when written permission is obtained from the Managing Director.

ReGen will close the office between Christmas Day and the later of: (a) the Friday following the New Year’s Day public holiday; or (b) the 7th of January. All employees are required to take this period as leave, unless otherwise agreed.