Some employees as well as being engaged to work with your business may also be engaged in community service activities which may result in them requiring time off work.
An employee is entitled to take time off work in order to engage in these activities and this entitlement is in the National Employment Standards (NES), meaning that it applies to all employees.
The type of community service activities that would entitle an employee to time off are:
- Voluntary emergency management activities; and
- Jury duty
What is a Voluntary Emergency Management Activity?
In order to be defined as a voluntary emergency management activity, the activity must include the following:
- It involves dealing with either an emergency or a natural disaster;
- The employee engages in this activity on a voluntary basis;
- The employee was requested to engage in the activity or they would have been requested to do so if circumstances allowed; and
- The employee is a member of or holds a member-like association with a recognised emergency management body.
A recognised emergency management body is one that has a plan or function for dealing with emergencies / natural disasters and includes such organisations as the Country Fire Service (CFS), Voluntary Ambulance Services and the State Emergency Service (SES).
Is it paid leave?
Generally no, community service leave is not paid leave. The exception to this is where the absence is due to jury duty. For the first 10 days of any absence as a result of jury duty, an employee (except casuals) is entitled to what is known as make-up pay.
If an employee is called to attend court as a witness, however, this will not invoke community service leave and instead they will have to request unpaid leave or use annual leave. An employee should, however, enquire about payment for their attendance from the court / the party calling them as a witness.
What is Make-up Pay?
Make-up pay is the difference between any jury duty pay an employee receives (excluding expense-related allowances) and the employee’s base pay rate for the ordinary hours they would have worked.
In terms of how much pay someone will receive from the courts, please see below for further information:
Before paying make-up pay, an employer can ask that the employee present evidence that they:
- Took all necessary steps to obtain jury duty pay (an employee will have to fill out a form to request this); and;
- The total amount of jury duty pay that has or will be paid to them for the period of absence.
Where an employee can’t provide the above evidence when requested, they won’t be entitled to any make-up pay.
How much leave can an employee take?
Unlike forms of paid leave like annual leave and personal / carer’s leave, there is no set amount that someone is able to take.
An employee is entitled to be absent from work for not only the time they are engaged in the activity but also reasonable travel time associated with it and any reasonable rest time.
The length of the absence will also have to be reasonable given the circumstances, although, for jury duty, the time will always be considered as reasonable.
Can we ask for evidence?
Yes, an employer can ask for evidence that the absence is genuinely one covered by community service leave.
An employee is also required to notify their employer of the absence and the period of absence as soon as possible.
If you have any questions please contact the Workplace Relations Team via the form below or call: (08) 8291 2000.
