Directing staff to take Annual Leave

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 be 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;
• New Year’s Day: Sunday 1 January and Monday January 2

	Workplace Relations Support  AMA Queensland’s Workplace Relations Support can assist members with general queries about close down periods under the awards and what employers can do during these times. You can contact us via phone (07) 3872 2222 and email support workplacerelations@amaq.com.au.
	Workplace Relations Toolkit Workplace Relations Toolkit subscribers are provided with policy and procedure templates taking annual leave and if close down periods apply to the practice as part of their subscription.
	Workplace Relations Consultancy Workplace Relations Consultancy can review current workplace policies, or help write new policies for members to implement into their practice.