Private sector employers and employees
Telephone: 1300 655 266
Mailing address
Locked Bag 100
East Perth WA 6892
This information is only relevant to employers and employees in the WA state industrial relations system – sole traders, unincorporated partnerships, unincorporated trusts and some incorporated or not for profit organisations. Find out more on the Guide to who is in the WA state system page.
If you operate or are employed by a Pty Ltd business – you can find information on this topic on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.
An entitlement to two weeks’ unpaid pandemic leave has been re-introduced for private sector state system employees.
The unpaid pandemic leave provisions were implemented through the COVID-19 General Order issued by the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission on 25 March 2022. The General Order applies until 30 September 2022, unless extended.
The COVID-19 General Order applies to private sector award free employees and private sector employees covered by WA awards or registered industrial agreements. Where a WA award or industrial agreement contains a term provided for in the General Order that is more beneficial to an employee, then the more beneficial term will apply. Otherwise, where there is conflict between the terms of a WA award or industrial agreement and the General Order, the terms of the General Order will apply.
The unpaid pandemic leave provisions are:
Comprehensive information for state system employers and employees on COVID-19 related topics is available on the Employment Impacted by COVID-19 page.
In April 2020, the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission issued the COVID-19 Flexible Leave Arrangements General Order to assist private sector employers and employees address the impacts of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic on their workplaces.
The COVID-19 Flexible Leave Arrangements General Order provided for unpaid pandemic leave and annual leave flexibilities for private sector state system employees.
The COVID-19 Flexible Leave Arrangements General Order ceased to have effect on 31 March 2021.
Unpaid pandemic leave taken in accordance with either the previous COVID-19 Flexible Leave Arrangements General Order or the current COVID-19 General Order does not affect any other paid or unpaid leave entitlement of an employee and counts as service for the purposes of entitlements.
Both of the General Orders override any WA award clause that is less beneficial. This means that even if an applicable WA award states that unpaid leave does not count as service, unpaid leave taken in accordance with the current COVID-19 General Order or the previous COVID-19 Flexible Leave Arrangements General Order will be counted as service.
To be entitled to long service leave under the Long Service Leave Act 1958, an employee’s employment with their employer must be continuous. The amount of long service leave is determined by the employee’s period of continuous employment.
Under the Long Service Leave Act, there are some types of absences that do not break an employee’s continuous employment, but do not count towards an employee’s period of employment for the purposes of accruing long service leave.
For employees in the state system, the effect of unpaid pandemic leave on long service leave accrual will depend on whether a WA award applies, and if so, the nature of any long service leave provisions in the applicable award. More detail is provided below.
Unpaid pandemic leave taken by private sector award free employees in accordance with the current COVID-19 General Order or the previous COVID-19 Flexible Leave Arrangements General Order provisions does not count towards an employee’s period of employment for accruing long service leave but does not break the employee’s continuous employment.
For private sector WA award employees, whether unpaid pandemic leave taken in accordance with the current COVID-19 General Order or the previous COVID-19 Flexible Leave Arrangements General Order counts towards an employee’s period of continuous employment for accruing long service leave depends on the provisions of the relevant WA award.
All WA awards are available on the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission website at www.wairc.wa.gov.au or you can contact Wageline on 1300 655 266 for award specific information.
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