All full-time, part-time, and casual employees can access 10 days of paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave as of 1 August 2023.

The full 10 day leave entitlement is available immediately - it does not need to be accumulated like annual leave. It also doesn’t increase over subsequent years if it is not used and will reset to 10 days each year on the employee’s work anniversary.

• Full-time and part-time employees will be paid their full rate of pay for the hours they would have worked. Casual workers get the full rate of pay for the hours they were rostered to work.
• Pay slips must not mention Family and Domestic Violence Leave, record leave balances, or the amount of leave taken.

According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, employees can take paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave if they need to do something to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence. This could include:

• making arrangements for their safety, or the safety of a close relative (including relocation)
• attending court hearings or accessing police services
• attending counselling, or appointments with medical, financial, or legal professionals.

If employees need to take leave, they must let their employer know as soon as possible. In some cases, this could be after the leave starts.

An employer can ask for evidence to show the employee took the leave to deal with family and domestic violence. Employers can ask employees to provide this evidence for one day or less than one day off work.

The types of evidence can include:

• documents issued by a police service.
• documents issued by a court.
• family violence support service documents
• a statutory declaration.

Introduction of this workplace change was staggered on 1 February and 1 August 2023 (depending on number of employees). 

A paid family and domestic violence leave for small business employers webpage is available on the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations for more information.

A change in workplace laws was introduced on 6 June 2023 which means employers have new obligations before they can refuse a flexible work arrangement. They must:

• Make a genuine effort to find alternative arrangements to accommodate the employee’s circumstances
• consider the consequences of refusal for the employee
• provide a written response that includes an explanation of:
  • the reasonable business grounds for refusal
  • other changes the employer is willing to make to accommodate the employee’s circumstances
  • information about referring a dispute to the Fair Work Commission. 

When an employee makes a request to extend their unpaid parental leave, you can:

• agree to the request
• discuss and agree to a different extension period with the employee. 

More employers will be exposed to multi-employer bargaining through the introduction of single-interest agreement bargaining. 

• Small business owners with less than 20 employees cannot be compelled to bargain under the single interest stream.
• For those with 20-49 employees, the responsibility will be on the bargaining representative (for example a union) to demonstrate that business operations and activities are reasonably comparable with those of other employers (that are covered by the agreement). 
• For businesses with 50 or more employees, it is presumed that business operations and activities are reasonably comparable with those of other employers (that are covered by the agreement). 
• If the bargaining representative can demonstrate the above, these employees are then to be included under the single-interest agreement. The responsibility is then on the employer to prove otherwise. 

For more information about these changes view the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Supporting you to bargain and make agreements webpage.

You can also view a secure jobs better pay small business factsheet, as well as a supplementary small business closing loopholes factsheet about these changes on the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations website. 

All organisations and businesses in Australia, regardless of size or resources, must stop the following behaviour from occurring:

• discrimination on the grounds of sex in a work context
• sexual harassment in connection with work
• sex-based harassment in connection with work
• conduct creating a workplace environment that is hostile on the grounds of sex
• related acts of victimisation.

This new positive duty was introduced in December 2022. It imposes a legal obligation on organisations and businesses to take action to prevent this behaviour, rather than only responding after it occurs.

From December 2023, the Australian Human Rights Commission will have new powers to investigate and enforce compliance with the positive duty.

The Australian Human Rights Commission has developed practical guidance materials to help businesses understand their responsibilities and the changes they may need to make. There is also a downloadable guide for small businesses.

For more information about bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination laws and how to prevent these behaviours in your workplace, view the Fair Work Ombudsman's webpage.