Businesses now required to offer family and domestic violence leave

As of 1 February, paid family and domestic violence leave has become available to employees of businesses with more than 15 staff.

This leave entitlement – which will also become available to employees of smaller businesses from 1 August – allows employees to access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period.

Here are seven other key facts about the reform:

1. The new entitlement applies to all employees in the Fair Work system (including part-time and casual employees).
2. Employees must be experiencing family and domestic violence to be eligible for the leave.
3. The leave must be used to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence.
4. Employers can ask for evidence that this activity is related to family and domestic violence, and that it would not be practical to do this activity outside work hours.
5. Employees are entitled to the full 10 days of family and domestic violence upfront, so they don’t have to accumulate it over time.
6. The leave renews every year on each employee's work anniversary.
7. It doesn't accumulate from year to year if it isn’t used.

How family and domestic violence is defined

According to the Fair Work ombudsman, an employee is experiencing family and domestic violence if a "close relative, current or former intimate partner, or member of their household" does these two things – "seeks to coerce or control them and cause them harm or fear" and "is violent, threatening or behaves in another abusive way".

A close relative could be a:

• spouse or former spouse.
• de facto partner or former de facto partner.
• child.
• parent.
• grandparent.
• grandchild.
• sibling.
• child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of a current or former spouse or de facto partner.
• relative according to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander kinship rules.

If you or anyone you know is experiencing family and domestic violence, this Services Australia page explains where to get help.

For more information about the new paid family and domestic leave rules, visit this Fair Work page.