Annual leave entitlements for your staff over the Christmas period

Christmas. The New Year. Summer holidays. It’s the time of year when businesses wind down their operations and everyone wants time off. There are exceptions and aged care is one of them as the 24/7 nature of care means employees still need to be on the floor. And it can be incredibly difficult balancing leave requests.

Most, if not all, organisations will have their leave requests organised by the time December rolls around. But it’s still important to be aware of your annual leave responsibilities during Christmas, particularly if plans change and rosters need to be altered.

Key Dates for Christmas and New Year

Over the 2023/24 holiday period, there will be five public holidays for all States and Territories:

• Christmas Eve, December 24 (Sunday): NT (7pm to midnight), QLD (6pm to midnight), SA (7pm to midnight)
• Christmas Day, December 25 (Monday): All States and Territories
• Boxing Day, December 26 (Tuesday): All States and Territories (also Proclamation Day in SA)
• New Year’s Eve, December 31 (Sunday): NT, SA (7pm to midnight in both)
• New Year’s Day, January 1 (Monday): All States and Territories

Award annual leave entitlements

Annual leave and Public holidays are two of the 11 minimum entitlements of the National Employment Standards (NES). As per the NES, all employees – except for casual staff – are allocated four weeks of annual leave, based on their ordinary hours of work. There may be additional entitlements if the relevant award or enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) offers extra leave.

• Full-time and part-time staff accumulate annual leave equivalent to their working hours across a four-week period
• For example, a full-time employee working 38 hours per week collects 152 hours of annual leave, while a part-time employee working 20 hours per week collects 80 hours
• Meanwhile, the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Industry (SCHADS) Award provides an additional week of annual leave to relevant shift workers
• Aged care nurses under the Nurses Award are also entitled to five or six weeks annual leave, depending on eligibility, but there is no additional leave entitlement for Aged Care Award workers

Employees, other than shift workers, are also paid an annual leave loading of 17.5% of their ordinary rate of pay on all three awards. Shift workers must be paid the higher of wither 17.5% of their ordinary rate of pay, or their regular weekend and shift penalties had they not taken leave over the Christmas period.

Leave requests and the right of refusal

Staff and their employer can agree on annual leave at any time and this request can only be denied when there are reasonable grounds.

Employers typically have a set notice period for annual leave requests ranging from one month to six or more. Additional time is often required ahead of Christmas to cater for increased demand and employees should be well aware of when they need to request annual leave.

An employer and employee must agree on a leave request ahead of time and if it is made well in advance and there are no reasonable grounds for refusal, it cannot be denied. However, the holiday period does provide its challenges and not all leave requests can be accommodated due to the ongoing care requirements for residents or home care staff.

There are also acceptable reasons to deny leave requests. For example, if you have a certain quota of staff that must be rostered and a leave request comes in that would leave you short-staffed, it can be denied. It is at your discretion if you choose to grant leave for personal reasons across Christmas that may leave you short-staffed.

Supporting staff after denying a leave request

It’s not possible to accept every leave request and there is no formal Fair Work policy in place to dictate how employers should deny leave appropriately. However, it’s recommended that you do your best to accommodate staff in the best way possible. For example, you can coordinate with staff to take time off in the following months or suggest they put in a leave request earlier next time round. 

Enforced leave

Some staff are required to take leave during a holiday shutdown period, especially in departments that are not involved in resident care. This means there are instances where an employer can direct employees to take annual leave if their award or EBA allows. 

Neither SCHADS nor the Aged Care Award references shutdown periods, while the Nurses Award does for medical practices. In this instance, employers must provide 28 days written notice of a temporary shutdown period, which is also seen as best practice for notifying any staff regarding a holiday shutdown period.

Otherwise, there should be mutual agreement between employers and employers for taking annual leave over the holiday period if it’s business as usual. 

Accrued days off

Full-time employees under the Aged Care Award cannot have an accrued day off (ADO) rostered on a public holiday. It should align with a rostered day off, though, and could take place after the public holiday. As for employees under the Nurses Award, the ADO will be taken instead of a public holiday. But, where practical, the alternative day off must be taken within the same four or five week work cycle. 

The information in this article may not be applicable due to overriding bargaining agreements or other contract details. Requirements from the various awards are summarised and any queries or concerns should be followed up directly with a HR professional or the relevant award document.