New Year shutdown period advice
Both the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2010 and the Nurses Award 2010 allow an employer to direct the staff to take paid annual leave during temporary close down periods of medical practices such as the New Year close down period. Under the Annual Leave Act the close down may be partial or a full one depending on whether it is: 1) for part or for all of the period; or 2) for part or for all of the staff.
This direction must be reasonable. The reasonableness will be established by the necessity of the business or the amount of notice given, which has to be at least a month. In the circumstances when this condition was brought to employees attention during the recruitment process or after the Awards came into effect in January 2010 it is still wise to remind your staff about the arrangement at least one month before the close down period. Where an employee does not have sufficient accrued annual leave, they may be required to take annual leave in advance, where such requirement is reasonable. Furthermore, under HPSSA 2010 an employer is entitled to deduct the amount of leave which was paid in advance and is still owing from any remuneration payable to the employee upon termination of employment. While there is no similar provision for deduction in the Nurses Award 2010, there is however a requirement, under the Award to take annual leave within 6 months of the employee becoming entitled to annual leave of more than five weeks. Practices should set up an annual leave roster 6 months in advance to ensure that the nursing staff have a sufficient amount of annual leave accrued by the close down period.
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