Carer's and compassionate leave in Australia
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
Carer's and compassionate leave are two distinct entitlements under the National Employment Standards that allow employees to take paid time away from work when a family member or household member is ill, injured or has died.
What is carer's leave?
Carer's leave lets an employee take time off to look after a member of their immediate family or household who is sick, injured or experiencing an unexpected emergency. It is not a separate leave balance — it comes out of the same personal/carer's leave accrual.
Full-time employees accrue 10 days of personal/carer's leave per year. Part-time employees accrue on a pro-rata basis. Casual employees do not accrue personal/carer's leave but are entitled to two days of unpaid carer's leave per occasion instead.
The leave can be used in a single block or in smaller increments, depending on what the situation requires. An employer can ask for reasonable evidence — such as a medical certificate or statutory declaration — before approving the leave. What counts as reasonable will depend on the circumstances, but employers cannot set a blanket policy that always requires a certificate for a single day.
"Immediate family" under the Fair Work Act includes a spouse or de facto partner, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or the same relationships on the employee's spouse or de facto partner's side. A "household member" is anyone who lives with the employee, regardless of the relationship.
What is compassionate leave?
Compassionate leave applies in two specific situations:
- a member of the employee's immediate family or household has a life-threatening illness or injury
- a member of the employee's immediate family or household has died
Employees — including casuals — are entitled to two days of compassionate leave per occasion. For permanent employees, this leave is paid at their ordinary rate of pay. Casuals are entitled to two days unpaid.
The two days do not have to be taken consecutively. If travel is involved — for example, attending a funeral interstate — the employee may need additional leave, which would typically need to be arranged as annual leave or leave without pay.
An employer can ask for reasonable evidence here as well, such as a death notice, a funeral program, or a medical practitioner's statement about the nature of an illness.
How does payroll treat these entitlements?
For permanent employees, both carer's leave and paid compassionate leave are paid at the employee's base rate of pay for the hours they would have worked — not including overtime or penalty rates, unless an applicable Modern Award or enterprise agreement says otherwise.
Because personal/carer's leave draws from a single accrual balance, payroll systems need to track that balance carefully. When an employee takes carer's leave, the hours used reduce the same bucket as personal sick leave. It is the same entitlement, accessed for a different purpose.
Under Single Touch Payroll, every pay event is reported to the ATO at the time of payment, including when leave is taken. Payroll software should be set up to distinguish between leave types for accurate reporting and for any audit trail if a dispute arises.
At the end of each financial year, the payroll finalisation submitted through STP by 14 July must reflect accurate leave balances and any leave paid during the year.
What applies on top of the NES?
The National Employment Standards set the floor. Modern Awards and enterprise agreements can — and often do — provide more generous entitlements. Some awards extend the definition of family, increase the number of days, or provide for paid compassionate leave for casuals. Always check the applicable award or agreement first, because the better entitlement prevails.
Individual employment contracts can also provide additional leave, but they cannot undercut the NES minimums.
Record-keeping and notice requirements
Employees must notify their employer as soon as reasonably practicable that they are taking carer's or compassionate leave, and they must advise how long they expect to be absent. There is no rule that this notice must be given before the leave starts — "as soon as reasonably practicable" acknowledges that family emergencies do not always allow for advance notice.
Employers are required to keep records of all leave taken and balances accrued. Those records must be retained for seven years. If an employee and employer disagree about whether leave was correctly taken or paid, accurate records are the first thing a Fair Work inspector or tribunal will ask for.
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