Questions & Answers - Community service leave

Question:

Will Defence Service Leave now come under Community Service Leave (along with Jury Duty and Emergency Services Leave)? What does an employee on jury duty do for money if their case goes for longer than 10 days?

Answer:

We expect defence force leave will be available under community service leave but we are awaiting Government regulations in this respect.

State legislation in Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria will oblige employers to make up the difference between the jury service fee paid by the State and their ordinary wages, with no 10 day cap.

Question:

The NES states Community Service Leave up to 10 days is available for Jury service & voluntary emergency management. Does this apply to training for voluntary emergency management or does the person have to use leave from their entitlements. Is the 10 days only applicable when involved in an actual emergency?

Answer:

The community service leave entitlement for voluntary emergency management is unpaid and unlimited.

Question:

Community Service Leave - is it correct to say that if an employee is on Jury Ser-vice that they get 10 days per year leave paid but the employer can make up the difference in their normal pay taking into account the payment for jury service from the appropriate govt body. So in essence the employer is making up the pay to the employees normal pay?

Answer:

In short, the answer to your question is "yes".

As set out in section 111 of the Fair Work Act 2009, an employer must pay its employee (other than casuals) for the employee's ordinary hours of work, at the employee's base rate, for the period that the employee is absent because of jury service (for up to 10 days).

If the employer requires, and the employee provides evidence of the total amount of jury service pay that the employee is to receive, the amount that would have been paid by the employer to the employee for the period of the jury service is reduced by the amount of jury service pay that the employee is to receive.

Question:

Are casuals and fixed term (temporary) employees covered by volunteer's leave in the NES?

Answer:

Yes, casual and fixed term employees will also be entitled to the benefit of the NES on community service leave after 1 January 2010.

Question:

I am writing a new policy regarding Community Service Leave to take into account the changes under the NES.

Can you please clarify the following:

• the amount of community service leave employees are entitled to (apart from jury service). Is it uncapped on each occasion?
• I noticed on the Fact Sheet your comment that there is an obligation to pro-vide paid leave in WA. How much is this?
• is defence force service leave included under the NES? (We don't have a pol-icy on that.)

We are a national employer with staff in each state and territory.

Answer:

The amount of community service leave to which an employee may be entitled is not capped.

As for defence force activities, if the period involved voluntary emergency man-agement activities (as defined under the Fair Work Act) this would be covered by the NES on community service leave. It could be that this is expanded in the Regulations with time, but at this stage, other general defence force activities are not covered. Of course, this would not prevent an employer from establishing a policy on the topic.

We suggest that you contact the Department of Consumer and Employment Pro-tection in Western Australia on 1300 655 266.