Surprising sick leave loophole could help you get more holidays
It’s one of the worst feelings - you’re in a stunning location, outside of the office and by rights you should have a cocktail in your hand.
But your head is in the toilet bowl, and what’s worse, you’re using up your precious annual leave right now.
However, this doesn’t need to be the case.
According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, if you get sick or injured while on holidays, you can actually claim it as a day of sick leave, rather than annual leave.
“If an employee is sick or injured while on annual leave, the employee can use their paid sick or carer's leave entitlement instead of using their annual leave,” Fair Work explained, pointing to the Fair Work Act 2009.
“The employer can still request the employee provide notice and evidence when taking sick or carer's leave while on annual leave.”
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The Fair Work Act 2009 explains that an employee on annual leave who becomes entitled to another form of leave - outside of parental leave - is understood to not be on annual leave.
However, employees still need to provide their employers with appropriate notice.
"If the employee provides the appropriate notice and a medical certificate covering the days they claimed they were sick, the employer should do a payroll adjustment to pay personal leave for that period and re-credit their annual leave back to them,” added AI Group’s HR Resource Centre.
And that certainly makes Bali Belly more bearable.
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