Submission to Holidays (Increasing Sick Leave) Amendment Bill

General Comments:

• In principle, The Salvation Army supports the passing of this Bill. We agree with the fundamental purpose of the Bill which is to increase the availability of employer-funded sick leave for employees. However, we are concerned about the impact of the Bill’s provisions on the leave entitlements for the significant number of part-time or variable hours employees that work with us. Specifically, there is no mechanism in the legislation that allows for a pro-rated calculation of sick leave for part-time or variable hours employees. This is a weakness in this Bill. Therefore, we have made some recommendations based on our own practice that we believe can strengthen and further clarify the reach and impact of this Bill. We are confident that many other employers who have large numbers of part-time or variable hours employees will have similar concerns we have about this Bill.

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