Family and Domestic Violence Policy and Leave Entitlement

As we commence 2023, we start the year with several amendments to the employment landscape. One such amendment is the entitlement to paid family and domestic violence leave for all employees (including full-time, part-time and casual employees).  

This new entitlement will be available to employees from: 

An employee will be able to access the family and domestic violence leave type if they: 

• experience family and domestic violence; and 
• need to do something to deal with the impact of that violence; and 
• it is impractical to deal with that violence outside their ordinary hours of work. 

Such examples may include: 

• making arrangements for their safety and the safety of a close relative, such as a dependent child (including relocation); 
• attending urgent court hearings; and 
• accessing police services 

An employee does not have to use their other leave entitlements (such as personal/carer’s leave or annual leave) prior to accessing the family and domestic violence leave. 

What should employers be doing? 

Payroll 

Now is the time to prepare for this new leave entitlement and be setting up their payroll systems to account for this leave entitlement, as the leave type will not be able to state ‘Family and Domestic Violence Leave’ as this could be a trigger for the perpetrator. 

Policy 

Additionally, businesses will need to develop and implement a family and domestic violence policy to their employees to outline what the entitlement is, what processes are required, and what support services are available. MPAQ has developed an example policy for our contracting members who have employees.  

For further information and to access the example family and domestic violence policy, please contact our Human Resources team on 07 3273 0800.