A recent Federal court decision has determined that the usual entitlements an employee receives when taking annual leave should also be provided for accrued annual leave when the employment is terminated.
Whilst members under enterprise agreements may receive shift penalties or other allowances when take their annual leave the significance for members in general is that when their employment terminates the accrued annual leave must also include annual leave loading if the employee has an award which provides for it. Our two major Awards are the Clerks and Contract Call Centre Awards and both of these provide annual leave loading at 17.5% of the amount of paid leave taken.
Members who have individual contracts of employment are still bound by an award as a minimum entitlement so long as their work can be covered by a particular award.
Some employers argue that if they pay over the minimum rate of an award then that excuses them from having to pay any allowances or penalties. Legally if this is the case then the employer needs to demonstrate this by showing where it is written and how the employee is compensated in the contract of employment. Some awards only provide for this sort of arrangement where there is agreement between the employee and employer. Just because you are paid over the minimum rate that does not necessarily mean that you are excluded from allowances and penalty provisions of an award. If such an issue rises then you need to contact the ASU.