About this course
We know this situation too well – you are closing the Practice to take a break, a holiday with the family, or just to rest over Christmas. What to do with your staff? Do they need to be paid? You take a big gulp and realise your staff will be getting an extra paid holiday at the same time, in addition to accrued annual leave. The good news is – this can be avoided.
1.Note this only applies to permanent staff because casuals are not entitled to paid annual leave.
2.First understand the Award. There are 4 options under the Award for dealing with staff wages during periods of shutdowns:
This provides flexibility where you or the Employees want to use paid annual leave at other times (i.e. Christmas holidays) and where your Employee wants to be paid over periods of shutdown. You must properly document the application of time bank hours, for assistance see ClinLegal’s “Application for Leave” form in the ClinLegal packages.
3.Be proactive. In addition to the above options, if your Employee signs ClinLegal’s contract before starting work, then in signing the contract your Employee has agreed to take leave without pay during periods of shutdown if there is insufficient outstanding annual leave. If your Employee does not have accrued annual leave to take, and you do not want to pay leave in advance, and you do not use or there is no available time bank, then you need separate agreement from your Employee to take leave without pay otherwise you will have to pay your Employee despite them not working.
4.If you use ClinLegal’s contract – you will already have your Employee’s agreement to take leave without pay. This can be processed using ClinLegal’s “Leave Application” form and must be documented.
5.If you do not use ClinLegal’s contracts – then you will need to seek separate written agreement from your Employee which could be tricky as of course your Employee would prefer an extra paid holiday!
TIP: It is best practice to formalise the contract prior to commencement of employment, rather than deal with individual issues as they arise. Use ClinLegal’s contract as we have it covered.