sick leave

[JenSam]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone has any experience with rolling over there sick days and taking them with annual leave (as unpaid mat leave) ?
My employer is saying it is only applicable for people that earn award wage and as I am above award wage it does not apply.
Thanks

[RhiChiChi]

I haven't heard that before, but I'm based in Melbourne.
I would call the NSW Office of Industrial Relations on 131 628 and they will clarify that for you.
If you have a sick leave certficate I can't see why they won't give you sick leave.

[Mother Goose]

I did this but I left work a week earlier than I had planned for Mat Leave so took that extra week as a mixture of sick leave and flexi leave. Once I have exhausted my Mat Leave entitlement, I am being paid my Annual Leave entitlement (because you keep accruing it whilst on Mat Leave) and then the remainder of my time off is leave without pay. I would definately check it out with the relevant body in your state - I can't imagine that there would be different rules for award Vs above award wage workers because that would be discrimination? I hope you can get some answers!

MG

[Karina]

I was told I could not use sick leave for anything else other than sick leave...
I have no idea if I am on/over award wage or whether I am under a state or federal award or what.

[Kazbah]

I'd be more tempted to have a definate "start" date for the mat leave, and then if you need to take leave earlier, get certificates from the doc. Your doc may be able give you a certificate for a week early?

[mummy2Kaitlyn]

I took the month off before due date as sick leave from work ...always planned to end on that date and made it clear to my Boss . I am on a salary package - would not be below award if there is an award. I think it really depends on the company you work for unfortunately . For me it was as easy as getting a Drs certificate from my OB and then I had sick leave up until the baby was born - my company ( big american company) gives you up to 2yrs paid sick leave - if required and hopefully no one ever needs it!. But I dont think most places are as generous.

[satya]

As far as I know Australian laws do not allow you to take sick leave as part of your maternity leave regardless of being on a salary or a wage. Look at your company's HR policy on sick leave and maternity leave and you will find it spelt out in black and white.

[caznjj]

check your award, but as far as i know most of them DON"T allow you to do this. most places state that any more than 4 single day absences in a year need a drs certificate.
You could put in for leave till - say - 38 weeks - then yo umight be able to get a drs certificate for the last couple of weeks - but if your dr won't give it to you then you'll have to work!

[Pandora]

It depends. I know someone who had a doctors cert for the last 6 months of her pg saying she was unfit to work, and ended up qualifying for temporary disability under her super.

I think you would need a certificate of being unwell, rather than just being able to use your accrued sick leave.

By "above award" do you mean you are not covered by an award, you have some other contract or agreement in place? If so it should be spelled out in that. I

You can alwyas check with the relevant IR department though, as some agreements, particularly newver ones can be undone under more carefulscrutiny - they were discussing it on the TV last night about illegal clauses in AWAs.

Also, some workplaces have rules about the order you can take your leave.

My work give paid mat. leave and require you to take all of your paid maternity leave first, then annual leav/LSL then the unpaid amount of your maternity leave.

We don't accrue sick leave so thats not relvant to me.

[fionas]

My workplace gives us 13 weeks paid maternity leave, 6 of which is meant to be taken before the due date (ie. from 34 weeks for a 40 week due date). If we want to work longer (and thereby maximise the leave after the baby), we need a doctors certificate saying we are fit to work. So in effect we can take sick leave before the 34 week date but after that if we're not fit to work, we'd start going into maternity leave in any case because the doctor couldn't give us a sick leave certificate AND a certificate saying we're fit to work.

Similarly after the baby's born, we can take up to 12 months unpaid leave (once the 13 weeks has run out) and if we're sick during that time, we take sick leave which then extends the unpaid leave. But we'd need a certificate and baby-related 'conditions' such as "breastfeeding" would not qualify as sickness.

Hope that makes some sort of sense!

So I would think that you can only use sick leave if you're actually sick and have a doctors certificate.

[AnyDream]

Ouch my head hurts from reading this thread. Wouldn't life be easier for all of us if the Govt simply mandated, every pregnant woman gets paid X weeks starting from X weeks and we could all go home and have a cup of tea and a nice lie down.