Navigating Paid Sick/Carer's leave
May 01, 2025On paper, paid sick/carer's leave seems straightforward, but sometimes real world situations raise questions. Here we break don the essentials under the National Employment Standards (NES) and address some of the most frequently asked questions from employers and employees.
Understanding paid sick and carer's leave
Under the NES, full time and part time employee are entitled to 10 days of paid carer's/sick leave (pro rata for part time employees). This leave can be used:
- for personal illness or injury (sick leave)
- to care for or support an immediate family or household member who is sick, injured or experiencing an unexpected emergency (carer's leave).
Both types of leave fall under the same 10 day leave entitlement and accrue each year based on an employee's ordinary hours of work, beginning from the first day of employment.
Any unused leave rolls over to the next year but is not paid out when employment ends.
Employees continue to accrue sick/carer's leave during paid leave (such as annual leave and sick/carer's leave), community service leave (e.g jury duty) and long service leave. However, they do not accrue this leave during periods of unpaid leave.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. How much paid sick/carer's leave can an employee take?
There is no set minimum or maximum, as long as paid leave is accrued, it can be taken. Once paid leave runs out, employees may access unpaid sick leave or 2 days unpaid carer's leave per occasion.
2. How does sick/carer's leave accumulate for part time employees working irregular hours?
It is calculated based on an employees ordinary hours. For example, if a part time employee worked 60 hours over four weeks, divide 60 by 4 to get the average weekly hours.
3. When taking carer's leave, who is considered an immediate family member?
Fair Work defines an immediate family members as:
- a spouse or de facto partner (current or former)
- child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of an employee, or a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of an employee’s spouse or de facto partner.
- step-relations (eg. step-parents and step-children) as well as adoptive relations.
4. Do you need to provide a medical certificate to use sick/carer's leave?
It depends on company policy. It is likely reasonable to require a medical certificate where the absence extends beyond 1-2 days or there are repeated absences (i.e after a public holiday or following a weekend). It is up to the employers discretion to request a medical certificate, in which the employee is required to provide.
5. Can you get paid sick/carer's leave in advance?
Unlike some awards where annual leave can be paid in advance, paid sick/carer's leave must accumulate. Unpaid sick/carer's leave should be processed if the employee does not have enough paid leave.
6. Can employees take paid sick/carer's leave to attend a medical appointment?
An employee can take paid sick/carer's leave to attend medical appointments as long as the employee is unfit for work because of illness or injury.
Example: an employee has the flu and attends a medical appointment during work hours. The employee would receive paid sick/carer's leave as they are unfit for work.
7. Can employees take paid sick/carer's leave to take a family or household member to a medical appointment?
Yes, an employee is entitled to paid sick/carer's leave if they are required to take a family or household member to a medical appointment due to personal illness, injury or an unexpected emergency. This includes if the individual requires the employee for care or support.
8. How much notice is required to call in sick?
This is dependent on a companies leave policy and procedure. If not stated, it is considered best practice to give the employer as much notice as reasonably practicable and an expected return date.
9. What is personal leave?
Sick leave, carer's leave and personal leave are all the same and the name is commonly interchanged.
10. How much paid sick/carer's leave does a casual get?
Casual employees are not entitled to paid sick/carer's leave and instead are paid a casual loading (typically 25%) in recognition of not receiving paid leave such as sick leave and annual leave.
11. Does paid sick/carer's leave apply for elective medical treatment?
In some cases! A recent ruling between Australian Workers' Union v Cement Australia (2025) saw the Commissioner state "employees are entitled, pursuant to the NES to take paid leave from work whether any medical treatment is planned or elective". Elective procedures, such as cosmetic surgeries, may still qualify as paid sick/carer's leave if the recovery renders the employee unfit for work and appropriate supporting evidence has been provided.
If you have any questions about the above, feel free to reach out to the Employii team via [email protected] for more information.
Author: Paras Patel (HR & Marketing Intern) and Jess Roughsedge (HR Consultant)
