Objective
Provide information and guidance to all employees of their rights and obligations in relation to personal, carer’s, compassionate and community service leave.
Definitions
Immediate Family
- A spouse, de facto partner, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the employee.
- A child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of a spouse or de facto partner of the employee.
Child includes the following:
- An adopted child.
- A stepchild.
- An ex-nuptial child.
- An adult child.
A 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 different sexes); and
- Includes a former de facto partner of the employee.
Personal/Carer’s Leave means:
- Leave taken by an employee because of a personal illness, or injury; or
- Leave taken by an employee to provide care or support to a member of the employee’s immediate family, or a member of the employee’s household, who requires care or support because of:
- A personal illness, or injury, of the member; or o An unexpected emergency affecting the member.
Compassionate Leave means:
- Leave taken by an employee when a member of the employee’s immediate family, or a member of the employee’s household:
- Contracts or develops a personal illness that poses a serious threat to his or her life; or o Sustains a personal injury that poses a serious threat to his or her life; or dies.
Community Service Leave
- Leave taken by an employee who engages in eligible community service activity. The period of absence can consist of one or more of the following: o Time when the employee engages in the activity.
o Reasonable travelling time associated with the activity; and o Reasonable rest time immediately following the activity.
Eligible community service activity means:
- Jury service that is required by or under a law of the Commonwealth, a State, or a Territory; or
A voluntary emergency management activity.
Responsibilities
Manager/Supervisors
- Ensure employees are aware of the leave policy.
- Approve leave on the basis that the request is within their entitlements.
- Ensure employees are informed of granted and denied requests.
Employees
- Complete a leave request and supply all relevant documentation.
- Advise the General Manager of any absence(s) as soon as reasonably practicable.
- If the General Manager has not responded in a timely manner, employees may contact the Operations Manager.
- Submit leave requests in advance or with sufficient time to allow approval and verification of entitlement prior to leave commencing.
Payroll
- Responsible for the administration of this policy and for ensuring that payment is forwarded to the nominated bank account of the employee who has their leave approved.
Procedures
- For Club staff, all employees must contact the General Manager as soon as reasonably practicable if they are going to be absent from work due to illness or injury, either of themselves or a member of their immediate family or household. If the General Manager has not responded in a timely manner, the Operations Manager may be contacted.
- For Pro shop staff, all employees must contact the Sports Manager as soon as reasonably practicable if they are going to be absent from work due to illness or injury, either of themselves or a member of their immediate family or household. If the Sports Manager has not responded in a timely manner, the Operations Manager may be contacted
- A doctor’s certificate must be provided if the staff member, supervisor, or manager calls in sick on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.
- Employees who are absent from work for two or more consecutive days must provide a medical certificate stating the reason for their absence. Staff who access carer’s leave of two or more consecutive days must also provide a medical certificate for the person being cared for.
- Leave forms must be submitted for any leave to be taken and management reserves the right to approve or disapprove of any leave to be taken, subject to the evidence requirements set in this policy.
All employees who have been absent from work and intend to access their personal leave entitlement must:
- Clearly indicate the nature of the leave requested, for example, “personal leave.”
- Submit a completed leave request to their Manager.
- Provide the General Manager with a medical certificate when practical.
Employees who require more information about personal, carer’s or compassionate leave should contact the General Manager.
Breach of Policy
Strathfield Sports Club has an obligation to consistently apply and enforce this policy. Employees must understand and comply with this policy.
Any employee who breaches this policy shall be subject to counselling, training, and/or disciplinary action, which may include termination of employment.
| Version | Authorised by | Date Reviewed | Next Review Date |
| 2 | Phillip Truong | 08/05/2025 | 08/05/2026 |
Scope
This policy applies to all Full Time and Part Time employees. Casual employees are eligible for unpaid carer’s leave and unpaid compassionate leave.
Guidelines
The National Employment Standards (NES) establish minimum entitlements for permanent employees to receive:
- Paid personal/carer’s leave.
- Unpaid carer’s leave; and
- Paid or unpaid compassionate leave.
These forms of leave are designed to help an employee deal with personal illness, caring responsibilities, family emergencies and the death or serious illness of close family members. Casual employees are eligible for unpaid carer’s leave and unpaid compassionate leave.
Personal Leave and Carer’s Leave
- The minimum entitlement to paid personal/carer’s leave for a full-time employee is 10 days per year, with part-time employees accruing a pro-rata entitlement.
- An employee’s entitlement to paid personal/carer’s leave accrues progressively during a year of service according to the number of ordinary hours worked and accumulates from year to year.
- Personal/carer’s leave continues to accrue when an employee takes a period of paid personal/carer’s leave, paid annual leave or long service leave.
Compassionate Leave
- All full-time and part-time employees shall be entitled to two days paid compassionate leave per occasion when a member of the employee’s immediate family or household:
- Contracts or develops a personal illness that poses a serious threat to that person’s life; or,
- Sustains a personal injury that poses a serious threat to that person’s life; or, o Has died.
Community Service Leave
- An employee is entitled to be absent from his or her employment for a period if they are engaged in eligible community service activity.
Jury Service Leave
- Where an employee is required to report for Jury Service, they should advise their General Manager immediately.
- Strathfield Sports will pay the employee their usual wage/salary for the day/s they are carrying out Jury Duty (including Jury Selection), less the value of any payments made to the employee by the court.
- Jury Service Leave is only available to Full Time and Permanent Part Time employees.
Voluntary emergency management activity
- Where an employee participates in a voluntary emergency management activity, they must advise their General Manager of their absence as soon as practicable.
- The employee must advise their General Manager of the period, or expected period, of their absence.
- Leave related to voluntary emergency management activity is unpaid.