Annual leave for the silly season

We hope by now that you will have spoken with your staff about your practice’s arrangements for the holiday season, and that annual leave applications are being submitted by staff for this period.

Both full-time and part-time employees employed under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 (HPSS Award 2020) are entitled to four weeks of paid annual leave, corresponding to their ordinary hours of work.

In contrary, employees under the Nurses Award 2020, are entitled to five weeks of annual leave per year. It’s also important to note that annual leave loading isn’t applicable on the fifth week of leave.

Further, as per the HPSS Award 2020 and Nurses Award 2020, a shift worker is entitled to receive an additional week on top of their annual leave entitlements.

Can annual leave requests be refused?

An employer cannot unreasonably refuse annual leave requests. A leave request would have to be linked to an inability to operate without the employee. 

The amount of notice provided and length of leave requested should be considered when reviewing annual leave requests to determine if the request can be reasonably accommodated. This should be outlined in your leave policies.

Finally, the decision of whether the annual leave request has been approved or rejected must be communicated to the employee in a timely manner.

If an employer refuses an annual leave request, they must provide a clear response, containing the reasons for refusal, and within a reasonable period of time. All communications to the employee should be documented and in writing, and done so within a maximum of two weeks.

The Workplace Relations Team at AMA Queensland strongly suggest that you, as an employer, review your practice’s annual leave policy on a regular basis. Having a well structured and up-to-date annual leave policy will provide great assistance to your practice with managing annual leave requests in an efficient manner, particularly around the holiday season. This policy may include the notice required by staff for a request, or a specific procedure for staff to follow when applying for annual leave. You should regularly review the policy and refresh staff on its content.

At AMA Queensland, the WR Team have put together leave policy templates available for purchase. Alternatively, we can be engaged on a consultancy basis, to provide assistance in reviewing or drafting your workplace policies.

Purchase leave policy templates 

Engage us to review or draft your workplace policies

Can I direct staff to take annual leave?

If your practice is planning on temporarily close down during the holiday season, the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 (Clause 26.5) and the Nurses Award 2020 (Clause 22.7) allows an employer to direct an employee to take annual leave during part or all of this temporary close-down period.

If an employee does not have enough annual leave accrued, you may require them to take annual leave in advance where such requirement is reasonable.

If you require an employee to take annual leave in advance, you must provide the employee with adequate notice in writing. Hence why it is crucial to begin organising the operational and staffing needs of your practice now, if you haven’t already. It is important to highlight that if a public holiday falls on a day during an employee’s period of annual leave, for that day, the employee will not be on annual leave.  

The public holidays over the holiday season in Queensland are as follows:

Christmas Eve (6pm – midnight): Saturday 24 December
Christmas Day: Sunday 25 December and Tuesday 27 December 
Boxing Day: Monday 26 December 

We hope that you and your staff have an opportunity to take a break over festive season and stay safe and healthy.