Employee Handbook, Leave and Time Off

Employee handbook section

The leave section people actually look up, written so a new starter can answer their own question without asking a manager.

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The whole document

Every page as it was built, in order. All the wording, figures and tables were written for this example, so the structure can be judged on real content.

Employee handbook

Full time staff accrue 20 days of paid annual leave a year, building up gradually from your first day. Part time staff accrue the same on a pro rata basis. Leave keeps accruing while you are on paid leave, and it does not expire.

You get 10 days of paid personal leave a year, which covers your own illness or injury and caring for an immediate family or household member. It accrues from your first day and carries over year to year.

Message your manager before your shift starts, or as early as you can. A phone call is fine, a text is fine, and you do not have to explain the medical detail.
We ask for a medical certificate or statutory declaration when you are away more than two consecutive days, or for a single day either side of a public holiday.
If your balance is exhausted, talk to your manager. Unpaid personal leave is available and will not be refused for a genuine illness.

Staff with at least 12 months of service can take up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave, with a right to request a further 12 months. On top of the government scheme, we pay 14 weeks at your ordinary rate to the primary carer and 4 weeks to the secondary carer.

Two days of paid compassionate leave are available each time a member of your immediate family or household dies, or has a life threatening illness or injury. It also applies to a miscarriage or stillbirth in your family. The days do not have to be taken together.

You are entitled to the public holidays that fall in your state on days you would normally work. If the clinic needs you on a public holiday we will ask, never assume, and the shift is paid at the public holiday rate in the award.

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What makes this document work

It answers the real question

How much notice, what evidence, and what happens when the balance runs out.

Parental leave is a table

Primary and secondary carer, paid weeks, notice and return rights, readable in one glance.

It admits it is a summary

A closing note says the award and contract win if they differ, which is both honest and safer.

Questions people ask

What should a handbook section cover?

The entitlement, how to use it, what you must tell the employer and what happens in the edge cases.

How formal should the language be?

Plain. A handbook nobody understands gets ignored, and then the process breaks.

Does a handbook replace an employment contract?

No. It explains policy. Entitlements come from the law, the award and the contract.

How often should it be updated?

At least yearly, and immediately when the law or an award changes. Put the version and date on the cover.

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