Effective from 29 July 2016, most awards have been amended to incorporate new provisions as to annual leave.
The new provisions include:
- a right for employers to direct employees to take annual leave if they have accruals exceeding eight weeks;
- the ability for employees to take leave in advance with agreement from their employer (and where an employee's employment is terminated before they have accrued the leave taken in advance, the right for an employer to make an appropriate deduction from the employee's final pay); and
- the inclusion of a cashing out provision which will permit employers to agree with an award employee to cash out accrued annual leave if they:
-
- have a signed written agreement with their employer;
- have a balance of at least four weeks' annual leave remaining after they have "cashed out"; and
- don't cash out more than two weeks in a 12-month period.
ACTION: Employers who have policies in relation to annual leave should review such policies to reflect the changes. Likewise, employers should review any relevant provisions in their employment agreements in order to ensure consistency with the new provisions (and/or the newly revised policies).
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances. Madgwicks is a member of Meritas, one of the world's largest law firm alliances.
