Businesses planning to shut down across the festive season, need to confirm close dates and notify staff in accordance with Award requirements from now.
Many Awards and Agreements allow you to direct staff to take annual leave, or unpaid leave when annual leave has been exhausted, during a shutdown period. Employees must be provided with specific notice for different Awards. Some Awards require up to three months’ notice of a shutdown.
Employsure’s Head of Advice, Josh Vikis, says, “It is important that employers comply with the notice periods set out in the Award or Agreement. The notice can be provided verbally however, we recommend this is in writing either via email or hard copy. In practice, issues in this area are easily avoided with clear policies and procedures together with early communication to staff.”
Employers must give the required notice to employees about an upcoming shut down usually between three months and four weeks.
Here are a several examples of the minimum notice period requirements for different industry Awards:
Four weeks’ notice
- Clerks—Private Sector Award 2010
- Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2010
- General Retail Industry Award 2010
- Restaurant Industry Award 2010
Three months’ notice
- Meat Industry Award 2010
- Textile, Clothing, Footwear and Associated Industries Award 2010
Two months’ notice
- Building and Construction General On-Site Award
- Joinery and Building Trades Award 2010
- Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award 2010
- Electrical, Electronic and Communications Contracting Award 2010
The Award or Enterprise Agreement may specify the situations in which an employer can require leave to be taken. For example, it might specifically say that an employer can require employees to take annual leave during a Christmas shutdown. Alternatively, it might be more general, and say that annual leave is to be taken subject to the reasonable needs of the employer’s business.
“Make sure you follow any rules under the Award or Agreement about notifying staff and what should happen during the shutdown,” Vikis advises.
“If the Award or Agreement doesn’t say anything about shutdowns or directions to take leave, you can’t force employees to use their annual leave. Instead, you can negotiate with them to take paid or unpaid leave but if they don’t agree, you can’t force them.”
Vikis says the end of year festive season can be two-sided.
“Most employees want the festive season off from work to rest and recharge. However, some employers have the reverse intent – especially those in a service based industry that wish to operate across a key period and meet increased customer demand.”
