My question concerns the kind of leave and amount of leave taken for normal medical appointments, in-surgery procedures and so on.
It seems to be the situation that sick leave can now only be taken when you are sufficiently sick so as not to be able to work. The standard advice on the Web seems to be to discuss with the employer the type of leave to be debited for doctors' appointments and so on.
In the workplace in question, the EA provides for 'personal leave', and the personal leave includes sick leave. So I assume a doctor's appointment could be debited against personal leave credits, provided there is a certificate from the doctor. In other words, the issue of sick leave and its use does not apply in practice in the situation where 'personal leave' is provided for in the EA, and someone wants to use personal leave for medical appointments.
Here comes the interesting bit. In order to maximise the burn rate of employees' personal leave, the employer has published internal procedures specifying that personal leave can be taken only in half-day chunks. So if you have to see a doctor for 10 minutes in order to get a prescription renewed, you are debited for half a day personal leave.
Now there is nothing in the Fair Work Act or the EA to endorse this practice. I assume it is unlawful. But I cannot put my finger on exactly why.
It seems to be the situation that sick leave can now only be taken when you are sufficiently sick so as not to be able to work. The standard advice on the Web seems to be to discuss with the employer the type of leave to be debited for doctors' appointments and so on.
In the workplace in question, the EA provides for 'personal leave', and the personal leave includes sick leave. So I assume a doctor's appointment could be debited against personal leave credits, provided there is a certificate from the doctor. In other words, the issue of sick leave and its use does not apply in practice in the situation where 'personal leave' is provided for in the EA, and someone wants to use personal leave for medical appointments.
Here comes the interesting bit. In order to maximise the burn rate of employees' personal leave, the employer has published internal procedures specifying that personal leave can be taken only in half-day chunks. So if you have to see a doctor for 10 minutes in order to get a prescription renewed, you are debited for half a day personal leave.
Now there is nothing in the Fair Work Act or the EA to endorse this practice. I assume it is unlawful. But I cannot put my finger on exactly why.