Leave without pay
Leave without pay allows employees to take an approved amount of unpaid time off work for any reason.
Eligibility
What employers should know or do
Eligibility
Leave without pay is not provided for under the Industrial Relations Act 1999 (PDF, 1.9 MB) and is generally not provided for in awards. This means that leave without pay must be negotiated with the employer, who may approve it.
Where there are no provisions under the Industrial Relations Act 1999 or awards, employers and employees may negotiate an informal arrangement, a formal policy or a formal agreement registered or approved by an authority or tribunal. Employees should contact their human resource department or employer to find out what provisions may already be available through any such arrangement.
What employers should know or do
Even though the leave is unpaid, there may still be additional costs that managers need to consider in terms of recruiting staff to back-fill employees who are accessing leave without pay for long periods. Also there is a possibility of annual leave still accruing during leave without pay (contact Wageline information service for more information). Therefore, managers may need to factor in any significant periods of leave without pay into their resource and financial planning.
Last updated 21 July 2009
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