If your organisation has 15 or more permanent employees (or 15 when you include regular and systematic casuals); as of 1 February 2023, your employees (including casuals) will be able to access up to 10 days of Family and Domestic Violence Leave (FDVL).
The basics of how the leave works:
• Upfront allowance – starts from the date it commences (i.e. 1 February or 1 August 2023), or the employee’s start date with your organisation; and the 10 days renews each calendar year thereafter.
• Does not accumulate year on year.
• Does not come out of personal or annual leave balances (it is an additional cost/leave allowance for the organisation to accrue for).
• Payment is based on the hours the employee would have been paid had they been at work.
• When FDVL is taken it must not be mentioned on the employee’s payslip, nor should the payslip show the leave taken or the balance remaining – this is to protect the safety and confidentiality of the employee.
• Requests for FDVL must be handled sensitively and confidentially. Under no circumstances should a leader divulge to anyone else in the organisation (unless they need the information to perform their role – e.g. payroll) that an employee is taking DFVL or the reasons for taking this leave.
Please find at the link a template Leave Policy, containing the FDVL provisions for you to download and customise.