CHANGES TO SPECIAL FAMILY LEAVE AND COMMENDABLE SERVICE LEAVE 

13 April 2010

QR Corporate has commenced a review of their policies to align them to the numerous Workplace Agreements.

Two policies that have recently been reviewed are the Special Family Leave policy and the Sick Leave policy. The new policy is called the Own Illness/injury and Family/Emergency Leave policy and combines both the Special Family Leave policy and the Sick Leave policy.

Two important changes that members need to be aware of are: 

• Changes to Special Family Leave

Under the previous Special Family Leave policy, employees were able to access 5 days per year of their sick leave for family reasons inclusive of educational matters (e.g. school estedfords), legal issues (e.g. court appearances) and medical appointments (e.g. taking dependants to a doctors’ appointment).

Under the new Workplace Agreements, employees may utilise 10 days per year of their accrued Own Illness/Injury leave to provide care and support to an immediate family/household member who has either a personal injury/illness or an unexpected emergency situation.

Prior to the review of the new policy, employees have been able to utilise special family leave for educational and legal issues as the existing policy was an above-agreement entitlement.

Upon consultation, QR advised of their intention to remove the entitlement to Special Family Leave for matters such as education and legal issues as it was an above-agreement entitlement.

The AFULE advised QR that traincrew have a quota of 10% of the depot on leave at any given time. Further, the leave roster is developed a year in advance. There are many circumstances where an employee may require leave to attend to family matters such as a court hearing for their child, a child’s university graduation, or a paediatric appointment that they may not have been aware of at the time of constructing the leave roster. Under the existing policy, employees were able to apply for Special Family Leave to attend such events.

The AFULE advised that if Special Family Leave was deleted from the new policy, traincrew will have difficulty in having leave approved to attend to such events given the 10% quota and the leave roster being developed a year in advance.

The AFULE argued for the Special Family Leave to attend to family issues such as educations matters, legal issues and medical appointments be reinserted into the new policy.

QR declined this request on the basis that it was an above-agreement entitlement. 

• Commendable Service Leave

Under the previous Sick Leave policy, employees were entitled to 8wks Special Sick Leave if they had 20 years commendable service, with an extra week per year up to a maximum of 13wks for 25 years commendable service.

Whilst QR has agreed to keep the Special Sick Leave (now called Commendable Service Leave) in the new policy, they have added in a checklist of what commendable and non-commendable service is.

The concerning point is the indicators for non-commendable service which is the following:

-          Any documented disciplinary action against the employee in the past 3 years and/or

-          Any documented unsatisfactory performance in the past 3 years

The AFULE advised QR that currently we are seeing traincrew who have a SPAD be given both a final warning and performance improvement plan. It appears harsh and unreasonable for an employees’ application to be rejected on the basis of having one SPAD in a long blemish free work career. Whereas, an employee in an office job may make a human error and not face the same disciplinary action that traincrew are facing for making a human error.

Given the excessive disciplinary action (inclusive of PIP’s) being applied across the traincrew grade, the AFULE is concerned that the wording in the new policy may result in applications for Commendable Service Leave being rejected.

The AFULE argued with QR with respect to this matter and requested the new policy be amended. Whilst QR amended what was initially proposed for the indicators of non-commendable service, they have refused to amend the new policy any further.

Where to from here?

As both Special Family Leave and Commendable Service Leave are an above-agreement entitlement, the AFULE has been unable to progress this matter further through Fair Work Australia. This is because the dispute resolution procedure in the Workplace Agreements only allows the parties to progress issues to Fair Work Australia to arbitration if they are a term of the agreement.

• Family issues – If you require a day off to attend to a family matter (e.g. your child’s graduation), you will need to make an application for another form of leave i.e. annual leave. To assist your application, please provide as much notice as possible. If your application is rejected, please contact the AFULE so we can progress the matter further on your behalf.  
• Commendable Service Leave – Due to the new restrictions imposed on the Commendable Service Leave, it is critical that members seek advice from the AFULE prior to submitting your application. Please contact the AFULE State Office who will help you draft your application for Commendable Service Leave.

If you have any queries in relation to this matter, please don’t hesitate to contact the State Office on (07) 3257 1151 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Yours fraternally,

GREG SMITH

STATE SECRETARY