We often get calls from workers asking about their personal leave (sick leave) entitlements. As a worker at Leap, you are working under the SCHADS Award, and it says that if you are a permanent employee, you are entitled to 10 days leave for the year.

In most cases, workers will need to provide evidence if they are to take time off sick and if an employer has requested it.

Section 97 of your award says, "Evidence (3) An employee who has given his or her employer notice of the taking of leave under this Division must, if required by the employer, give the employer evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person".

But in terms of what evidence is sufficient, the award gets a little confusing as it says it needs to be evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person.

There have been a lot of Fair Work cases dealing with this question, but obviously, a doctor’s certificate would be enough and in the right circumstances, and a stat dec might also do the trick, but it would be best for your workplace to have their own enterprise agreement so that things like this can be written clearly for all.

Paul is open to the idea of having an agreement for Leap employees, and we’ll keep you updated as we have more discussions on this.

In the meantime, if you have any issues with personal leave or the evidence you need to provide, please give HACSUassist a call for advice.