News

This week the Victorian Ambulance Union Incorporated (VAU) successfully represented a member at the Fair Work Commission in dispute with Ambulance Victoria over the application of the ‘40 hours bonus leave entitlement’ in the Ambulance Victoria Enterprise Agreement 2015 (Varied and Extended) (AV Agreement).

The dispute arose over the specific meaning of ‘one day absences’ in clause 49.3(d) of the AV Agreement and whether employees need to provide evidence for full and/or part day absences in order to obtain the additional 40 hours personal leave.

Clause 49.3(d) of the AV Agreement states:

“where one day absences without providing a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner or a statutory declaration are not taken for a period of five consecutive years, an additional 40 hours personal leave shall be added to the employee’s accrued entitlement”.

Clause 49.7(a) of the Agreement states:

“in the case of personal illness or injury an employee may utilise up to 3 days accrued personal leave with pay in each year of employment without providing a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner or a statutory declaration”

AV argued that employees were excluded from accessing the additional 40 hours of personal leave if they had not provided evidence of all absences including both part and full-day absences over the preceding five years.  In contrast, VAU held the view that members were eligible for the 40 hours of bonus leave if they had provided evidence of full day absences only (meaning that part day absences did not require evidence for the purposes of receiving the additional 40 hours personal leave). Furthermore, VAU argued that the purpose of clause 49.3(d) was to provide an incentive for the submission of evidence instead of accessing leave without evidence as per the entitlement of clause 49.7(a).

In resolving the dispute, the Fair Work Commission issued a recommendation clarifying that:

1. the meaning of ‘one day absences’ as referenced in clause 49.3(d) means full day absences only; and
2. should an employee choose to rely upon the entitlement of clause 49.7(a) to take a full day absence without providing a medical certificate or statutory declaration, the employee will forgo their entitlement to an additional 40 hours of personal leave as referenced in clause 49.3(d).

The full recommendation available is attached to this bulletin.

The practical effect of this recommendation is to confirm that members are eligible to receive an additional 40 hours personal leave in circumstances where they have provided supporting evidence for all full day absences taken in a five year period.

Consistent with the Fair Work Commission recommendation, we encourage any members who have previously had their applications for the 40 hours personal leave rejected because they had not submitted evidence for part-day absences to contact the VAU at [email protected] with the subject line “Bonus Leave” for information on how to have the 40 hours recredited.

In solidarity