Workers will have access to 10 days of paid Family and Domestic Violence (FDV) Leave, as new laws come into effect tomorrow for businesses with 15 or more employees.
The historic change follows extensive campaigning from unions and workers for businesses to support survivors leaving a violent relationship.
Speaking to the significance of the new 10-day leave, Prime minister Anthony Albanese said, “No woman should ever have to choose between her job and her safety.”
Economic security is a key factor in determining whether a person can escape a dangerous relationship.
On average, it costs $18,000 to escape a violent relationship in Australia.
“From tomorrow, workers no longer must choose between putting food on the table and their safety,” Michele O’Neill, President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), said today about the “life saving entitlement”.
“Paid Family and Domestic Violence leave builds on the long legacy of the union movement campaigning for and winning new rights for workers, enshrined in our employment laws.”
As the Albanese government’s first change in workplace laws, all workers in businesses with 15 or more employees will have access to 10 days of leave, regardless of whether they work full-time, part-time or casually.
Full-time and part-time employees can take the leave at their full pay rate for the hours they would have worked, and casual employees can take their full pay rate for the hours they were rostered to work.
For businesses with fewer than 15 employees, the same 10-day leave entitlement will start on 1 August 2023, and until then, these small business workers have access to the current 5 days of unpaid domestic violence leave.
Rather than accumulating like annual or sick leave, the full 10-days paid FDV leave will be available immediately when a worker needs it.
There are also rules in place to keep workers’ information private, as FDV leave isn’t allowed to be included on an employee’s pay slip.
The ACTU wants all workers to understand their rights under the new laws, but is also marking the historic occasion by thanking those who campaigned for change and paying tribute to the survivors who didn’t have access to these entitlements when they desperately needed them.
O’Neill said the ACTU pays tribute “to unionists who campaigned for over a decade for paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave– their commitment and determination means lives will be saved.”
She added: “Our hearts are with families of those for whom paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave has come too late and we remember the women taken too soon.”
One of the unions who campaigned for FDV leave to become a right was Australian Services Union and their Assistant National Secretary Emeline Gaske speaks to the fact that “while this is a huge and historic win, union campaigning for gender equity does not stop here.”
“With 1 in 4 women having experienced some form of violence since the age of 15 by an intimate partner, Australia has a serious problem with women’s safety and gender equality.