Leave

A teacher is entitled to four weeks' annual leave each year of service in accordance with the NES as prescribed by the Act. Annual leave is deemed to be taken for four weeks over the year end school break, that is, from approximately mid-December to mid-January of the following year.

2023 VICTORIA PUBLIC HOLIDAYS: (according to NES)

• Sunday 1 January - New Year's Day

• Monday 2 January - Additional public holiday for New Year's Day

• Thursday 26 January - Australia Day

• Monday 13 March - Labour Day

• Friday 7 April - Good Friday

• Saturday 8 April - Saturday before Easter Sunday

• Sunday 9 April - Easter Sunday

• Monday 10 April - Easter Monday

• Tuesday 25 April - Anzac Day

• Monday 12 June - King's Birthday

• Friday 29 September - Friday before AFL Grand Final

• Monday 6 November* - Day before Melbourne Cup (*ASV, not NES)

• Tuesday 7 November - Melbourne Cup

• Monday 25 December - Christmas Day

• Tuesday 26 December - Boxing Day

CARER'S LEAVE (part of Personal Leave)

• Accrued personal leave may be used by the teacher to care for persons in their immediate family or household.

• Leave may be taken for a whole day or half a day.

• Notification should be given to the relevant school's contact person as soon as reasonably practical, stating the reason for the care needed and the estimated duration of care.

• A medical certificate or other documentation may be requested by the employer as evidence that care is required for the person concerned.

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CARER'S LEAVE (unpaid)

• A teacher (including a casual teacher) is entitled to unpaid carer's leave to provide care and support for a person who is an Immediate Family or household member of the teacher.

• Unpaid carer's leave may only be taken after the teacher's paid personal leave entitlement has been exhausted.

• Unpaid carer's leave may be taken for up to 2 days per permissible occasion, or for any separate period as agreed by the employer and the teacher.

• A period of unpaid carer's leave of more than five consecutive school days does not break continuity of service, but it does not count as service.

• Discretionary leave is available to teachers for purposes which are not otherwise provided for within personal leave or compassionate leave, e.g. child's graduation, immediate family member's wedding, relocating to a different location during the school year, funeral of a close colleague, friend or relative who does not fit the definition of being a member of a teacher's Immediate Family or household.

• Discretionary leave up to a maximum of three (3) days per annum may be granted upon written application by the teacher to their principal. Extenuating circumstances may be considered for the need for further discretionary leave.

• Any discretionary leave is taken from personal leave entitlements and is to be recorded within the payroll records.

• Discretionary leave is available to part time teachers on a pro rata basis.

• Discretionary leave is non-cumulative.

• Discretionary leave is not available to casual teachers.

• Any full-time, temporary or part-time teacher is entitled to paid personal leave for any absence due to illness or injury.

• A teacher who takes sick leave due to illness or injury must notify the relevant school contact person before the start of the school day unless it is not reasonably practicable to do so. In such circumstances, notification as early as possible after the absence has commenced is required. Notification should include the reason and estimated duration of the absence.

PRIMARY SCHOOL: Follow procedure on Primary School Sick page.

SECONDARY SCHOOL: TBA

• Compassionate leave is special paid leave of up to three (3) days per permissible occasion for a teacher to spend time with a person who is an Immediate Family or household member and who has an illness or injury that poses a serious threat to his/her life, or after the death of an Immediate Family or household member. This leave is separate to personal leave in clause 30 of this Agreement. Compassionate leave is not cumulative.

• In the case of a request for compassionate leave, the employer may require the teacher to provide satisfactory evidence of the death, severity of the illness, and/or the prognosis for the member of the teacher's Immediate Family or household.

• A casual teacher is not entitled to paid compassionate leave. However, a casual teacher has the right be absent from work without pay for compassionate leave for a person who is an Immediate Family or household member.

• This scheme is available for all full-time permanent teachers.

• A teacher wishing to participate in the Deferred Salary Scheme shall apply to Adventist Schools Victoria.

• It operates over a term of four (4) years with the teacher deferring twenty-five (25) percent of his or her salary for the first three years and taking leave during the fourth year of the scheme while being paid the deferred salary.

• For the fourth year, the total deferred salary will be paid at the teacher's classification/salary level during the fourth year, after adjusting for the current wage percentage increase.

• Should the employer and the teacher mutually agree to withdraw from a preserved leave agreement prior to the commencement of the leave period, the teacher shall be entitled to receive the salary that has been deferred.

• If a teacher's employment terminates at any time during these periods, then the teacher will be entitled to receive the unpaid nominal amount of any deferred salary.

• Superannuation contributions shall be levied on the salary actually paid to the teacher over the four year period.

• Normal allowances such as Fees Discount for Employee's Children Policy shall be allowed in full for the three year period of service only.

Each year, for the purpose of dealing with family and domestic violence, as follows:

• a full-time employee is entitled to 5 days of paid leave and 5 days of unpaid leave.

• a part-time employee is entitled to a total of 10 days of leave comprising paid and unpaid leave. The paid leave entitlement is pro rata o f 5 days o f paid leave based on the part-time employee's ordinary hours of work.

• a casual employee is entitled to 10 days of unpaid leave.

The entitlement is available in full at the start of each 12 month period of the employee's employment and does not accumulate from year to year.

A teacher who is suffering from one of the following infectious diseases will be granted special leave of up to three months without deduction of pay provided the employer is satisfied on medical advice that the teacher has contracted the disease through a contact at the school, and the disease is evident in the school:

• German measles

• Chickenpox

• Measles

• Mumps

• Scarlet fever

• Whooping cough

• Rheumatic fever

• Hepatitis

The teacher must, at the request of the employer, produce a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner which specifically names the disease as soon as is reasonably practicable.

• Teachers employed under this Agreement are entitled to 13 weeks' long service leave after completing 10 years' continuous employment (i.e. 1.3 weeks' LSL accrues per year of continuous employment).

• Teachers are able to apply to take LSL on a pro-rata basis after completing seven (7) years of continuous employment.

Parental leave is provided for in the NES. Parental leave includes birth-related leave, adoption-related leave, and concurrent leave.

Please refer to the ASV Paid Parental Leave Policy 2021 for further details.

Unpaid special leave may be granted at the discretion of the employer to teachers for limited periods for the following reasons:

• Sick leave (up to 1 year)

• Study purposes (up to 3 years)

• Volunteer service (up to 2 years)

• Overseas denominational employment (as negotiated)

• Professional development/upgrading outside of denominational employment (up to 3 years)

• Renewal leave (up to 1 year)

• Other leave as agreed to by the employer (up to 3 years)

Graduate Teachers are entitled to seven days of leave without pay in the first seven years of teaching.

This leave is not mentioned in the EA; please talk to the HoP or HoS for more details.