Leave Policy

On Point Fire Protection Leave Policy Why we've created this policy On Point Fire Protection team members are entitled to a range of different types of leave, both paid and unpaid. We want you to be clear on all the sorts of leave you're eligible for, how it's calculated, and the processes around applying for and taking leave - so we've developed this policy to explain all the ins and outs. As with all our policies, if you have any questions or need anything clarified, please ask a Director (or delegate) of On Point Fire Protection, and we'll be happy to walk you through it. Types of leave At On Point Fire Protection, we provide a variety of leave types, including: - Annual Leave - Long Service Leave - Personal Leave (for sickness/injury, carer duties, bereavement and other special leave purposes) - Parental Leave - Family and Domestic Violence Leave - Community Service Leave - Leave Without Pay Who's eligible for what? All permanent employees (both full and part-timers) are entitled to paid and unpaid leave. All types of paid leave are calculated according to your salary, with pro-rata entitlements for part-timers (in other words, based on your salary and the number of hours you work each week). Casual team members aren't eligible for paid leave, except Family and Domestic Violence Leave and Long Service Leave (explained later in this policy). There are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to leave (no matter what kind): - Wherever possible, please plan (and apply for) your leave well in advance. The more notice we have, the more accommodating we can usually be! - We aim to be flexible and accommodating around leave requests - but approval is always at the discretion of On Point Fire Protection Directors and will be granted based on our business needs, your specific teams' needs and your leave entitlements when you apply. That said, if we don't approve your leave, we'll always explain the reasons why. - If you're a permanent employee of On Point Fire Protection, you are not permitted to do any paid work for another employer whilst on leave (unless you get the written OK from our Directors). Getting leave approved For most types of leave, here's the process that you need to follow at On Point Fire Protection: 1. First of all, check your current leave entitlements. These are summarised on each payslip (issued fortnightly by Payroll). If you have any queries, ask the Office/Payroll Manager. 2. Discuss your planned leave with the nominated Manager to see if there are any immediate issues. 3. If no problems are flagged, complete a Leave Request Form and email it (or provide a hard copy) to the nominated Manager for consideration. 4. You'll be advised if your leave request has been approved. Remember to let Payroll know, so their records can be updated accordingly. If your request is not approved, a member of On Point Fire Protection's Management team will explain why. Some types of leaves take longer to approve than others, as they involve liaising with Payroll. These include: - Long Service Leave - Parental Leave - Extra Sick Leave drawn from another type of leave The nominated Director can approve all other types of leave. Unplanned leave We understand that when it comes to Personal Leave, it's usually hard to plan in advance! If you'll be absent from work, we ask that you notify a Director (or, in the absence of a Director, the Office Manager) before 9:00am on the day of your absence (unless extraordinary circumstances make this impractical). You'll need to tell us why you can't come into work and when you think you'll be able to return. Notifying us of your absence promptly gives Directors or other senior staff as much time as possible to re-allocate work and cancel appointments you may have had - that's why it's so important! Please remember that you need to call a Director yourself (unless extraordinary circumstances prevent you) and that it's not sufficient to notify us via: - text message - email - voicemail - a message left with another team member - a phone call made by a family or friend If a voice message is the only viable option, please leave a contact number and call again within the hour to ensure that the message has been received. You'll also need to complete a Leave Request Form as soon as possible, even if it's retrospective. Once notified, On Point Fire Protection Directors will send Reception an email telling them of your absence, as this will help ensure staff, clients, and other contacts get the message. Annual Leave Full-time and part-time employees are entitled to Annual Leave - with full-timers accruing four weeks (20 days) per year and part-timers earning pro-rata entitlements (based on the amount of hours worked each week). On Point Fire Protection actively encourages a work/life balance, and we encourage all employees to take at least one period of ten (10) consecutive working days of Annual Leave each calendar year (it's good for the soul). Just one thing to note: the business is typically closed over the Christmas and New Year period for about a fortnight), so team members need to plan ahead to make sure they have enough leave to cover this period. If you're a new starter and haven't had time to accumulate enough leave, we'll work with you to find a solution. Annual Leave is cumulative from year to year - however, we ask that you avoid building up excessive entitlements (more than 20 days). If you accumulate excessive leave, On Point Fire Protection Directors may encourage you to take leave as soon as possible - or even make it compulsory (giving you at least two months' notice). If you don't want to take time off, you're also entitled to request cashing out any accrued Annual Leave in excess of 20 days. Approval of Annual Leave requests is at the discretion of the Directors. Please be mindful that requests may be refused under certain circumstances, including during periods when many people are asking for leave at the same time, or when the business is especially busy (such as the two weeks leading up to Christmas). Your leave request may also be refused if you haven't accrued enough leave entitlements. Leave requests from parents with school-aged children may be prioritised during school holiday periods. To keep things running smoothly while you're on Annual Leave, please do the following things before you go: - Send an email to the Directors, Office Manager and anyone else you're working directly with, letting them know that you'll be on leave. - Set up an 'Out of Office' email auto-response outlining your leave dates, return date and who to contact in your absence. - If you're taking more than one (1) week of Annual Leave, update relevant team members about the status of your current projects (to help them field any enquiries while you're away). Long Service Leave You're entitled to Long Service Leave - and the amount you're paid is calculated according to State legislation. At On Point Fire Protection, we encourage you to start taking this leave as soon as you can once you're eligible. If you're planning to take Long Service Leave, please share your plans with On Point Fire Protection's Directors well in advance (especially if you want to take a longer leave period). This way, we can make arrangements to keep business running smoothly in your absence. If your work pattern with On Point Fire Protection has varied between full-time and part-time, this will be considered when calculating your Long Service Leave rate of pay (in line with relevant legislation). If you have unused Long Service Leave credits when you stop working for On Point Fire Protection, you'll be entitled to payment in lieu (again, in line with relevant legislation). Personal Leave All full-time and part-time employees of On Point Fire Protection are entitled to use ten days of paid Personal Leave each year. For part-timers, this is accrued on a pro-rated basis. Personal leave can be used in several different ways, outlined below - but in all cases, we ask you to advise a Supervisor by phone call and message the OPF Schedule Group at least 1 hour before your rostered start time on the day you take leave. Example message for OPF Scheduling: "I am not attending work today due to sickness." This helps us manage scheduling and make any necessary adjustments for the day. - Sick Leave. These are days when you are absent due to illness, injury or incapacity. You're entitled to use all your Personal Leave days as Sick Leave if you need to. You'll need to provide a medical certificate specifying the dates you'll be unfit for work when you return. If you don't do this, your leave may be processed as unpaid leave at the Directors' discretion. Unused sick leave is cumulative, but accrued sick leave is not payable upon termination. - Carer's Leave. These are days when you care for a member of your immediate family or a member of your household who is ill or injured and requires your care or to deal with an unexpected emergency - and you can use all your Personal Leave for this purpose. Multiple people cannot take Carer's Leave to look after the same person simultaneously. If Carer's Leave is taken on account of someone's illness or injury, you need to produce a medical certificate for that person - and in all other cases, On Point Fire Protection reserves the right to request a statutory declaration explaining why you had to take leave. If you've used up all your Personal Leave entitlements, you're still entitled to two (2) days of unpaid Carer's Leave if you need them (medical certificates will still be required). Please ensure all certificates for personal and carer's leave are emailed to: info@onpointfire.com.au Compassionate Leave This leave can be used when someone in the immediate family or household has died or has a life-threatening illness or injury. You can also take Compassionate Leave if you or your partner has a miscarriage or someone in your immediate family or household has a stillborn baby. The entitlement is two (2) days per occasion, and this type of leave is not cumulative. Parental Leave All On Point Fire Protection employees who have been with us for at least 12 months, may be eligible for unpaid parental leave. This includes casuals if they have been working on a regular and systematic basis at On Point Fire Protection for at least 12 months and have a reasonable expectation of continuing work on a regular and systematic basis, had it not been for the birth (or expected birth) or adoption (or expected adoption) of a child. Please refer to the Fair Work Ombudsman website for further details regarding your eligibility and related entitlements - Parental leave and related entitlements - Fair Work Ombudsman. Family and Domestic Violence Leave (FDVL) If you're experiencing family and domestic violence, you now have a paid leave entitlement that can be utilised to do something to deal with the impacts of family and domestic violence. For example, you may use this leave to attend a court hearing, make arrangements for your own, or your children's safety (such as relocation), attend counselling or police services or attend an appointment related to legal, financial or medical professionals. On Point Fire Protection team members are entitled to ten (10) days of paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave from the date they commence with On Point Fire Protection. The ten (10) days renew every 12 months on your work anniversary but doesn't accumulate from year to year if it isn't used. The ten (10) days can be taken in one period or multiple periods (e.g. single days). If you apply for leave because of family and domestic violence, we may ask you to provide evidence to show that you need to do something to deal with family and domestic violence, and it's not practical to do it outside your work hours. Types of evidence you can provide include: - family violence support service documents - documents issued by a police service, or - documents issued by a court. If there's an emergency involving family and domestic violence, and you can't apply for leave in advance, explain the situation (and how long you think you'll need off work) to a Director or other senior manager that you feel comfortable with as soon as you can. Please note that any conversations disclosed to On Point Fire Protection regarding family and domestic violence will be treated with an extreme level of sensitivity and confidentiality. Likewise, in the event that FDVL is accessed, it will not be reflected on your payslip, nor will a FDVL balance be shown on your payslip. Evidence of any family and domestic violence that has been accessed will be stored securely in your employee file. Please note that all employers have a duty of care to keep their employees safe and as such, if it is believed that there is an imminent threat to the safety of an employee, it is up to the Director to report such an instance. Community Service Leave All employees of On Point Fire Protection are entitled to take time off work when participating in community service activities, including jury service, voluntary emergency service, and Defence Force Reserve activities. - Jury Service. Full and part-time On Point Fire Protection employees will be given up to ten (10) paid days to attend Jury Service (anything more is granted at the discretion of Directors). Casual employees can take unpaid leave for Jury Duty. Either way, you'll need to provide your Jury Service Summons with your leave request. And if you receive any government payment for your service, you need to advise On Point Fire Protection and remit any payments for the first ten days (providing you're taking paid leave). - Voluntary Emergency Service Leave. If you're a volunteer for a recognised service that deals with emergencies or natural disasters, On Point Fire Protection is happy to support you by giving you unpaid leave for periods of service. We request that you provide us with as much notice as you can, evidence of why you're required to take part and estimate of how long you'll be away from work. - Defence Force Reserve Leave. Permanent On Point Fire Protection employees (full and part-time) who are in the Defence Force Reserve are entitled to apply for leave without pay for activities relating to this role. Please let the Directors know you're planning to apply for this leave as far in advance as possible, and provide them an estimate of how long you'll be away from work. You may apply for Annual Leave (at the Director's discretion) during a period of unpaid Defence Force Reserve Leave. Leave Without Pay On Point Fire Protection aims to be as flexible as possible when it comes to leave - and we know that, from time to time, you may need to take time off from work for unexpected reasons. Leave Without Pay is approved at the Directors' discretion or in exceptional circumstances (for example, if you've fallen ill but have run out of Sick Leave). Leave Without Pay will generally not be approved if you have accrued leave entitlements (such as Annual Leave) that you could take instead. If you have any questions about this policy or need more information, please ask an On Point Fire Protection Director (your enquiry will be kept confidential).