Are you a casual employee for a company that wants to know about your sick leave policy? This is a common question asked by many casual workers.
It’s a question more so asked of late for casual employees coming down with COVID or other respiratory illnesses wanting to know what their options are. In terms of COVID payments for casual employee’s this is varied through different government schemes and worth checking via relevant state and federal bodies. Some employee’s casual or not may also have provisions to receive payments under company COVID leave policies. As such it’s also worth checking with your employer if they have any policies in place for casual employees.
Perhaps you are also wondering, “Does a casual employee need to provide a medical certificate?” Or if you are an employer, “Can you request a medical certificate from a casual employee?” These are common questions that surprisingly have more complex answers than you might think.
In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into what you need to know about sick leave policy. Read on and you’ll be able to determine your eligibility based on your specific circumstances.
Is My Employer Required to Give Me Sick Leave and Carer’s Leave?
This may surprise you, but in most countries including Australia, there is no official legal requirement mandating that companies give their casual employees paid sick leave. However, all casual employees are entitled to take unpaid sick leave for illness.
In addition, the National Employment Standards (NES) has provisions for casual employees to:
- access a pathway to become a permanent employee
- 2 days unpaid carer’s leave and 2 days unpaid compassionate leave per occasion
- 5 days unpaid family and domestic violence leave (in a 12-month period)
- unpaid community service leave.
Other provisions are included within the National Employment Standards to accommodate disabilities or pregnancy. In the case of pregnancy, your company can’t deny you leave if you have a condition related to your pregnancy or if your employer also gives leave for other disabilities, and are required to adhere to the various Discrimination Act’s.
As a casual employee you may also request a Flexible Working Arrangement and take unpaid leave if you have been employed on a regular systematic basis over at least 12 months, and expect to continue being employed by the employer on a regular and systematic basis.
Is My Employer Required to Pay Me for Paid Sick Leave?
At this time, there are no federal requirements mandating any type of paid sick leave for casual workers from employers. Since there is no law requiring this offering, there is no law mandating paid sick leave for casual employees. However, It is true that employers do in fact offer paid sick leave for part time and full time employees in line with the National Employment Standards and local Awards or Enterprise Agreements.
Despite the fact that there is no federal requirement at this time, if your employer doesn’t treat employees consistently when they take leave supported by evidence, for example they way in which they request supporting evidence could risk discrimination. This could also include situations in which the employer does not treat individuals at the same level of contract fairly for illness or carer’s responsibilities. This includes casual and part-time workers.
Can My Employer Keep Records About My Time Off?
Regardless of your employment status, whether it be casual, part time, or fulltime, your employer may keep a record of your supporting evidence, a chronological of instances of sick leave, or set in place support measures.
One example of this is that your employer may require you to call every day you’re off due to illness. They may also ask you to provide medical certificate details, or a certificate of fitness to return to work.
What Should a Sick Leave Policy Include?
As a casual worker, you should be proactive about determining what your company’s sick leave policy outlines for you. The National Employemnt Standards don’t require employers to pay sick leave to casual employees. Here are a few things you’ll need to consider:
Eligibility
Most workplace policies will have provisions that include casual employees not being entitled for sick leave. First and foremost, there will be variability as to whether you will be eligible for unpaid or paid sick leave fpr each class of employment; a casual, part-time, and full-time worker. Most companies will reserve paid sick leave only for part-time and full-time employees. However, in today’s world, some employers may grant sick leave payment for casual employees on mutual agreement or out of goodwill in instances.
Accrual Rate
Casual employee’s won’t generally accrue any sick leave or annual leave. This is why the hourly rate normally comes with a ‘casual loading / penalty’ in addition to the ordinary hours earnt.
Supporting Evidence
Regardless of whether your or casual or not, some employment contracts, awards, and agreements, may have provisions for you to substantiate a leave of absence in the form of a medical certificate, carer’s certificate, or a statutory declaration. It’s worth checking the individual requirements that apply to the organisation you work within.
So, Does A Casual Employee Need To Provide A Medical Certificate?
Let’s dive back into our original question: Does a casual employee need to provide a medical certificate?
Hopefully, it’s now clear that there is no current requirement for your employer to pay you sick leave if you are causal. However, they may require a medical certificate of a certificate of fitness to return to work.
Adverse Action and Casual Employment
In instances, where you have been unfairly dismissed, casual employees or workers are only entitled to an unfair dismissal remedy if their employment is regular and systematic and there is a reasonable expectation of ongoing employment. There may be other options available if you feel your employer has taken adverse action against you. Or if you have been discriminated against. We recently worte an article on getting fired for not having a medical certificate which is worth reading.
Contact our team of Workplace Advisors to discuss the options available to you. We recently wrote an article on
Please note that this is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice
