What is: Leave Management

Managing employees’ leave

It’s your responsibility to manage employees’ requests for leave fairly and consistently, complying with relevant policies, procedures, operational requirements, legislation and best practice.

Why is this important and what’s my role?

When you manage leave effectively, you help make sure Metro North Health consistently delivers high quality services and you preserve the financial viability of the service.

Both managers and employees have responsibilities when it comes to leave.

Employees’ responsibilities

It’s up to employees to:

understand their leave entitlements
submit a leave application when absent from work
attend work according to their contracted working hours and fulfil their employment contract
not attend work when they’re feeling unwell
notify their line manager if they’re not coming to work.

Managers’ responsibilities

As line manager you must:

make sure staff are accruing the correct rate of annual leave e.g 4 weeks per year
let staff know what’s expected of them in terms of attending work, submitting leave applications and notifying managers when they’ll be away
know the leave requirements in relevant awards and policies
monitor staff attendance by reviewing attendance records/reports
make sure all leave is authorised
not unreasonably decline leave applications—employees are entitled to take leave and you shouldn’t use leave to reward or punish staff
only approve or decline leave that’s within your Human Resource (HR) delegations.

What do I need to do?

Know what types of leave that Queensland Health employees are entitled to: Leave entitlements summary
Set expectations with your team about when they take planned leave.
Know your HR delegations—the type of leave you can approve depends on your role and level.
Ask your team to access myHR for leave request forms.
Let your team know how to communicate with you when they have unplanned leave.
Implement a team leave calendar.

Types of leave

Queensland Health employees are entitled to leave under several circumstances. Common types of leave are:

Accrued Day Off (ADO) and Flex Days

Rostered ADOs should be taken as soon as practicable. They can be deferred when mutually agreed by the employee and their manager. Staff need their line manager’s approval to take Flex Days.

Annual Leave

Annual Recreation Leave

Bereavement and Compassionate Leave

Bereavement Leave

Leave Without Pay (LWOP)

The delegate for LWOP differs, depending on the length of leave applied for. Check your HR delegations. Staff must give enough detail about the reason for LWOP to enable the delegate to fully consider the request. All LWOP applications must be progressed to the delegate for a decision even if the manager doesn’t support the request.

The Family and Domestic Violence Guidelines give information about additional leave provisions and support available for employees experiencing family and domestic violence. The guidelines also explain how you can support employees in these circumstances.

Sick or Carer’s Leave

Managing planned leave

In order to maintain high quality service, let your team know when it’s best for them to take planned leave and if there are particular times of the year or month when it’s better that they don’t take leave. When considering leave requests, make sure you have enough employees to cover the unit/service and roster at any given time. Take account of peak times, holiday periods and any deadlines that are due.

If you need to decline a leave request, discuss your reasons with the staff member and explain the impact their leave would have on the service, patients or community. Try and work out an alternative suitable time for their leave. Note that there are times when you have to accept planned leave, such as when a pregnant staff member applies for maternity leave.

Managing unplanned leave

If a staff member is having a lot of unplanned leave, check that they’re okay. Ongoing absences can impact other staff and service delivery. It’s important to discuss and address any concerns about unplanned absences, even though it this can be uncomfortable.

Managing persistent non‐attendance

If you’re concerned about aspects of an employee’s absence or sick leave, contact your Human Resource Business Partner (HRBP) to discuss the matter and options available.

Managing excess annual leave

If you’re notified that someone’s accrued an annual leave balance that’s more than their two year entitlement, you need to develop a plan with them for reducing their leave balance. The plan must be agreed in writing (email) and a leave application submitted in myHR. If a plan isn’t agreed to, contact your local HRBP for support. They may direct a staff member to take leave if necessary.