Your industrial update provides information and news related to your rights and conditions at work, brought to you by the team of experts in the AEU office. This edition covers:
- What to do when your personal leave is exhausted
- Workers compensation
- Overpayments
- School Assistant recruitment
What to do when your personal leave is exhausted
The AEU office is often called on to assist members who have exhausted their personal leave balance due to an injury, illness, caring responsibilities or other reasons that has kept them from work for an extended period. We understand that this can be a very stressful time, but the AEU office is here to assist you if you’re in this situation.
If you find yourself running out of personal leave (or you’ve exhausted your balance already), there are some options to consider:
- You can seek to “anticipate” a week of personal leave (clause E4.28). This means that the employee brings forward a week of their personal leave that would accrue in the future. For this to be accepted, you need to have exhausted, or be close to exhausting, your personal leave balance. An application can be made through the Shared Services ‘apply for leave form’. This leave can be approved by your immediate supervisor and can usually be actioned fairly quickly.
- If you have access to another form of leave, such as long service leave, you can usually access this where you would otherwise access personal leave. Accessing annual leave through the year is not an option for the many AEU members who have school-based conditions.
- You can also seek to make a claim for additional paid personal leave if there are “exceptional circumstances” (clause E4.31). This should not be confused with personal leave in special, extraordinary or unforeseen circumstances (clause E5), which, if approved, is deducted from your accrued personal leave balance. Personal leave in exceptional circumstances is not an entitlement or right, and this leave does not accrue. It is at the discretion of the employer to grant.
In seeking this third option, you need to demonstrate that:
- there are exceptional circumstances (i.e., you need to provide evidence),
- you have exhausted your personal leave entitlements and
- you are not in receipt of workers compensation.
Whilst there is no specific definition of what might constitute “exceptional circumstances”, the AEU encourages the EDU or CIT to consider all relevant factors and situations that are unusual, special or uncommon, for example, serious illness or injury. This application should be made directly to HR, as the decision-making power is generally delegated to only a few people in the ACTPS.
Prior to making such an application for personal leave in exceptional circumstances, we would highly recommend that you reach out to our office for assistance.
Finally, there are also other entitlements that members might be able to access. For instance, if the reason you are off work is because you have suffered an injury or illness because of your work, then you may be entitled to workers compensation. Workers compensation can recredit the personal leave you’ve needed to take due to your workplace injury. Our office can assist with providing advice and guidance on making a claim, and we can also refer you to Slater & Gordon lawyers for a free consultation regarding workers compensation. Similarly, you may have entitlements available to you under an income protection policy you may hold.
Workers compensation
We’re pleased to let you know that we’ve published a comprehensive Workers Compensation Fact Sheet, now available on our website. (You’ll need to be logged in to view it – the good stuff is only for members!)
If you’ve been injured at work or become sick because of your work, you may be eligible for workers compensation to cover your pay while you’re off work, as well as medical expenses and rehabilitation costs.
The fact sheet provides detailed information about:
- Who is eligible for workers compensation
- What types of injuries or illnesses are covered
- What entitlements you receive
- Step-by-step guidance on how to apply
Remember, workers compensation is a ‘no-fault’ scheme, meaning you don’t need to show that your injury was caused by someone else’s fault – only that it was work-related.
If you’re unsure about whether to make a claim or need assistance with the process, please don’t hesitate to contact us at aeuact@aeuact.org.au. We’re here to help.
Overpayments
An overpayment occurs when you receive money from the ACT Government that you’re not entitled to. This can happen because of payroll processing errors, late submission of forms, or changes to your working conditions.
We’ve recently published a comprehensive Overpayments Fact Sheet, now available on our website.
If you’re alleged to have an overpayment, here’s what you need to know:
When notified of an overpayment:
- You have 14 days to respond (though you can request more time if needed)
- Under your Enterprise Agreement (clause D5.6), you can request specific details about when the alleged overpayment occurred, what it relates to, why it happened, and the amounts involved
If you disagree that an overpayment occurred:
- Challenge whether an overpayment actually exists by raising your concerns with Shared Services and HR
- Request that recovery doesn’t start
- If this doesn’t resolve the issue, contact the AEU office to see if you can dispute the overpayment through the dispute resolution procedures in your Enterprise Agreement
If you agree to the overpayment, your options include:
- Agreeing to repay through a single deduction, or offsetting the overpayment amount against certain leave types, or paying via instalments from your salary of 10% or more
- Negotiating different terms if standard repayments would cause financial hardship
- Applying for a waiver in cases of financial hardship, exceptional circumstances, or where repayment would be unreasonable
School Assistant Recruitment
We have become aware that since the introduction of the new School Assistant Recruitment and Mobility system, several members have encountered difficulties. While these issues aren’t affecting everyone, we recognise that for those experiencing them, they represent significant concerns.
Our union representatives are meeting regularly with the Education Directorate’s Recruitment team to raise concerns and troubleshoot issues being experienced by our members. These discussions are productive, and the Directorate has been receptive to addressing challenges that we have raised on behalf of members.
If you’re experiencing difficulties, please reach out to us directly at aeuact@aeuact.org.au. The more specific information we receive about implementation issues, the more effectively we can represent your interests in our ongoing discussions with management.