From today (1 February 2023), employees of non-small business employers are able to access paid family and domestic violence leave.

Employees of small businesses (employers with less than 15 employees) can access the paid leave from 1 August 2023. Until then, they can continue to take unpaid family and domestic violence leave.

Confidential information, counselling and support is available for people impacted by family and domestic violence and their employers at the 1800 Respect Website, the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service.

How much leave & who is entitled

All employees in the Fair Work System (including part-time and casual employees) will be entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period. This new entitlement replaces the existing entitlement to 5 days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave under the National Employment Standards (NES).

Employees are entitled to the full 10 days upfront, meaning they won’t have to accumulate it over time. The leave doesn't accumulate from year to year if it isn’t used.

The new leave entitlement is available from:

• 1 February 2023, for employees of non-small business employers.
• 1 August 2023, for employees of small business employers.

Employees can still access 5 days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave until the new paid leave entitlement becomes available to them.

For more information on family and domestic violence leave, please visit the Fair Work website.

Paying your employees

If you need to process paid family and domestic violence leave pay in your payroll software; you can access instructions on your software provider’s website.

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Kind regards,

SaabTeece