QTU Sick Leave Information Brochure

June 2020

Sick leave

This document is issued for general guidance only. It does not constitute professional advice. The issues with which it deals are complex and the document necessarily deals only with general principles. No reader should rely on this document for the purpose of making a decision as to action but should seek the appropriate advice from the Union on the particular circumstances of that reader. The Union accepts no responsibility for the consequences should any person act in reliance on this document without obtaining the appropriate advice from the Union.

Entitlement whether the service on either side of the break is permanent or temporary. Since 1 January 1969, sick leave has accrued at the rate of 10 working days on full pay for each completed • Prior to 1 December 1989, the break in service year of service. Prior to 1 January 1969, sick leave applying to temporary and permanent accrued at the rate of seven and one-half working days employees must not exceed three months in on full pay per year. order for previous service periods to be recognised for carry over of sick leave Sick leave entitlements apply to part-time teachers on a entitlements. pro-rata basis. Temporary (contract) teachers can only access their Accumulation accrued sick leave while actually employed in a Sick leave may accumulate indefinitely. There is no temporary engagement. cash equivalent payable on retirement or You cannot access paid sick leave while on unpaid leave resignation. from the department. Notification of illness Calculation of entitlement If you are absent through illness, you should notify College graduates the principal promptly of both the illness and the approximate period of absence. There is no Since 1 January 1973, service for sick leave purposes requirement to provide details of the nature of the has no longer calculated from the date of entry to illness. teachers’ college. Service is now calculated from the date of entry to the teaching service. Pregnant employees Admissions Pregnant employees can access sick leave up to six weeks prior to the estimated date of confinement A 10-day sick leave credit is allowed at the date of (EDC). beginning permanent employment with the department. From the beginning of the second year of service, sick Paid sick leave is not available if you are on unpaid leave is accrued at the rate of one half-day for each 18 parental leave. Paid sick leave is accessible when days’ service, based on a seven-day week and 52 weeks you are on paid parental leave if the absence is of the year. greater than three days and a medical certificate is supplied. Continuity of service For further information, please refer to the QTU’s • Since December 1989, permanent teachers who parental leave information brochure. resign from the service and are readmitted permanently or in a temporary capacity within 12 Applications for sick leave months will retain all previously accrued sick leave You should not have to complete leave applications entitlements. (apply) for sick leave. Sick leave is an entitlement. • Since December 1989, temporary teachers who This leave is recorded on a leave schedule which is move in and out of employment with the prepared by the workplace. Workplaces should department or who are converted from temporary have appropriate procedures in place to ensure the status to permanency may be given recognition for schedules accurately record the leave taken. previous sick leave credits, provided that the break Granting and recording of sick leave in service between engagements does not exceed 12 months. This applies to all temporary teachers, The department’s custom and practice is that the minimum period of deduction is 15 minutes and

Authorised by Graham Moloney, General Secretary, Qld Teachers' Union, P O Box 1750, Milton LPO Qld 4064 Web: www.qtu.asn.au Email: [email protected] Phone: 07 3512 9000 Fax: 07 3512 9050 Sick leave – June 2020 Page 2 of 5 sick leave can be processed in 15-minute temporary engagements are eligible for meritorious increments in excess of this minimum. sick leave on a pro-rata basis. Documentary evidence Applying for meritorious service sick leave A medical certificate or suitable documentation is A teacher may apply for meritorious sick leave after required for sick leave of more than three days’ 26 years’ meritorious service without the duration. requirement to exhaust their existing sick leave balance. The additional 13 weeks’ sick leave will be If you are subject to a formal process for monitoring added to the current sick leave balance and be performance, conduct or attendance, the Director- available for immediate use. This provision is General may require that a medical certificate be provided on a pro-rata basis for part-time provided to support any sick leave for periods of employees. three days or less. Application for this special credit should be made There is no requirement to furnish medical through an electronic form available on OnePortal. documentation for sick leave where illness results It should be noted that the date of application is in an absence either side of a public holiday. processed as the “end date” for the purpose of Special sick leave credits assessing employment history, therefore only the most recent 26 years’ service is used to calculate Meritorious service the meritorious sick leave. An additional credit of 65 working days of sick leave War service on full pay may be added to the sick leave account of a teacher in full-time employment, provided that: A special credit of 65 working days of sick leave on full pay, in addition to other sick leave credits, is • the teacher has completed 26 years of available to employees who have undertaken war meritorious service within the Queensland public service and who have absences from duty which sector are attributable to a war-caused disability arising • the service is service that counts towards long from: service leave accrual. • service within operational areas, as defined N.B. The service being recognised for this purpose within Schedule 2 of the Commonwealth need not be continuous, but it must count for long Veterans’ Entitlement Act 1986, as amended service leave accrual, i.e. service or leave which is from time to time recognised for accrual of entitlements (paid leave • service with peacekeeping forces, as defined and minimum periods of unpaid leave as per the within Schedule 3 of the Commonwealth “Leave without salary credited as service” Veterans’ Entitlement Act 1986, as amended directive). from time to time. Example: Applications for this special credit should be made January to the appropriate regional director, through the Appointed principal. Teachers who are accessing the special 1969 war service credit of sick leave need not exhaust = 3 years their ordinary sick leave before being eligible to January access war service sick leave. It is worth noting Resigns that the special war service credit of sick leave is in 1972 addition to the meritorious sick leave credit (explained above). Out of service = 12 years Infectious diseases January A special credit of leave on full pay, not chargeable Recommences to any other leave account, may be approved if you 1984 are suffering from an infectious disease contracted = 23 years during the course of employment. Please refer to Continuing service January the department’s infection control guideline for the with no break to 2007 list of illnesses that are eligible. Carer’s leave - use of sick leave for Total service recognised = 26 years family illness purposes You can use sick leave accrued since 1 July 1995 Part-time employees or employees who have to care for members of your immediate family or completed the required period of service through a members of your household who are ill. combination of permanent full-time, part-time or Like sick leave, carer’s leave is an entitlement.

The department’s Employee Leave Entitlements • a medical certificate is provided. Guideline indicates that an employee is able to If your long service leave or paid parental leave is access carer’s leave to care for or support a person being paid at half pay, the sick leave granted during who is ill or injured, and in the event this is for more the leave period will also be at half pay (deducted than three consecutive days, the employee must at two and a half hours each day). give the department a doctor’s certificate or statutory declaration evidencing that the person Use of long service leave has an illness or injury requiring care or support by In special and exceptional circumstances, if you another person. have exhausted your accrued sick leave on full pay, You can also seek to use your compassionate you may be granted access to accrued long service (discretionary special) leave for family illness leave for sick (and carer’s) leave. Please contact purposes. This is a discretionary form of leave and the QTU for assistance if you have any difficulty requires the approval of the principal. having your request approved. Recognition of prior employment with QSuper Income Protection (IP) benefit Commonwealth or state public service If you are required to take an extended period of entities sick leave, and you exhaust your entitlement to paid If you were appointed on or after 1 December 1989 sick leave, you may be entitled to the payment of an and have worked for the Commonwealth public income protection benefit from QSuper. service, other state public services, statutory QSuper - Accumulation Plan authorities, tertiary educational institutions, public hospital boards and local authorities, you can have For members of the Accumulation Plan, the income your previous service recognised for the calculation protection (IP) benefit (75 per cent of salary) can be of sick leave, provided there is not a break in paid for up to two years for the one medical service in excess of 12 months. To find out more condition. about this provision, contact the Union. Waiting period Payment for public holidays Please note, from 1 July 2019 QSuper has changed If you are granted sick leave on full pay immediately the default waiting period of accrued sick leave plus prior to, during, or following a public holiday, you 14 days to 90 calendar days or accrued sick leave, will receive normal pay for the public holiday, with whichever is greater. no debit to your sick leave account for the public Members who exhaust all their paid sick leave and holiday. If a public holiday occurs immediately prior have enough paid leave to cover the 90 day or to or immediately following a period of sick leave shorter waiting period will not have to be on any without pay, normal salary will be paid for the public period of unpaid leave before commencing the IP holiday. If sick leave without pay is granted on both benefit. QTU members who do not have enough sides of a public holiday, no salary is paid for the sick leave and other leave (e.g. long service) to public holiday. cover a 90-day waiting period should consider Payment for workplace vacation personalising their income protection by reducing the waiting period to either 30 or 60 days. These During the initial 12 months of sick leave, teachers shorter waiting periods will incur a higher premium in the schools sector will be paid school holidays as than a 90-day policy. vacation pay. Members will continue to be paid any school Sick leave as service holiday leave that occurs in the initial 12 months of Paid sick leave is recognised as service for salary paid or unpaid sick leave. School holiday leave can and accrual of leave and service history be used to cover part of the 30, 60 or 90-day entitlements. Only the first three months of unpaid waiting period if it falls within the waiting period. sick leave (including time on income protection) is The QTU also recommends that members recognised for salary accrual and accrual of other occupationally rate their QSuper insurance, as this service and leave entitlements. may result in lower IP and other insurance Sick and carer’s leave during paid leave premiums. (long service leave and paid parental Other issues leave) If you are working part-time when you claim your Sick and carer’s leave can be accessed during long income protection, the benefit will be adjusted for service leave and paid parental leave, if: the part-time rate you are working.

• the period of incapacity is more than three If you are absent on sick leave without pay, you will working days not be required to pay contributions to the QSuper -

Accumulation Plan. Both employer and employee some time whether you would ever be able to contributions will be paid into the plan as part of return to normal duties and consideration would be the income protection benefit insurance given to the need for ill health retirement. arrangements. Please note, contributions will not The benefit is payable from the beginning of the be made if you are not receiving an income third week of continuous sick leave without pay and protection benefit. is determined according to the age of the member You cannot claim income protection if you need to when they joined the plan up to a maximum of 75 care for a family member. It can only be claimed for per cent of salary. If you are working part-time when personal illness. Income protection can only be you claim your income protection, the pension will paid if you are temporarily ill or injured and are be adjusted for the part-time rate you are working. unable to work. If you are on sick leave without pay for a period You will need to provide certificates/statements greater than two weeks, you will not have to pay from your doctor to support the need for an contributions to the QSuper - State Plan, provided absence from duties. If the absence continues over that: a period of time, you may be required to undergo an • you are a category A contributor examination by a medical specialist chosen by QSuper. • you are a category B contributor who has been a member of the plan for a period of more than Please also refer to the QTU’s information brochure seven years on QSuper Income Protection and disablement benefits. • you are a category B contributor with less than seven years' plan membership, but the cause of QSuper - Defined Benefit Plan the extended sick leave is not related to the reason(s) for the category B classification. For members of the Defined Benefit Plan, the income protection benefit can be paid for up to two There will be no reduction in benefit entitlement as years for the one medical condition. a result of non-payment of superannuation contributions. The benefit is payable from the beginning of the third week of continuous sick leave without pay and If you are a category B contributor with less than will equal 75 per cent of your previous 1 July salary. seven years' plan membership and the cause of the If you are working part-time when you claim your extended sick leave is related to the reason(s) for income protection, the pension will be adjusted for the category B classification, then you have two the part-time rate you are working. options: If you are absent on sick leave without pay, you will • payment of employee contributions only not be required (nor able) to pay contributions to • waiving payment of contributions, with a the QSuper - Defined Benefit Plan during the period resulting reduction in benefit entitlement. of absence. Benefits will continue to accrue for the period for which incapacity pension is paid from the You cannot claim income protection if you need to QSuper - Defined Benefit Plan. Benefits will not care for a family member. Income protection can accrue if you are not in receipt of an income only be paid if you are temporarily ill or injured and protection benefit. are unable to work. You cannot claim income protection if you need to Please also refer to the QTU’s information brochure care for a family member. Income protection can on QSuper Income Protection and disablement only be paid if you are temporarily ill or injured and benefits. are unable to work. Supply teachers You will need to provide certificates/statements Supply teachers are not covered by income from your doctor to support the need for an protection unless they specifically apply. Contact absence from duties. If the absence continues over QSuper for further details. a period of time, you may be required to undergo an examination by a medical specialist chosen by Sick leave and a QSuper permanent QSuper. disablement benefit Please also refer to the QTU’s information brochure If medical evidence obtained during a claim for on QSuper Income Protection and disablement income protection benefit indicates that you may benefits. never be able to return to normal duties, QSuper QSuper - State Plan may decide that you should receive a permanent disablement benefit rather than an income For members of the QSuper - State Plan, the protection (temporary disablement) benefit. pension may be paid indefinitely. However, in practical terms, a judgement would be made at Authorised by Graham Moloney, General Secretary, Qld Teachers' Union, P O Box 1750, Milton LPO Qld 4064 Web: www.qtu.asn.au Email: [email protected] Phone: 07 3512 9000 Fax: 07 3512 9050 Sick leave – June 2020 Page 5 of 5

You may then be retired on the grounds of ill health, even if you have not requested such retirement. Please note, the ill-health retirement process is governed by the department and not QSuper. If you or your medical specialist have any doubts on this matter, you should discuss the particular circumstances with the Union.

Authorised by Graham Moloney, General Secretary, Qld Teachers' Union, P O Box 1750, Milton LPO Qld 4064 Web: www.qtu.asn.au Email: [email protected] Phone: 07 3512 9000 Fax: 07 3512 9050