Leave types
Every organisation starts with the National Employment Standards (NES) leave types: annual leave, personal/carer’s leave, compassionate leave, community service leave, family and domestic violence leave, parental leave and long service leave, plus unpaid leave. You can add others, such as study leave or purchased leave, and choose whether they’re paid and whether they accrue.
Leave types marked Confidential show a lock in Leave settings. Family and domestic violence leave is confidential by default.
Family and domestic violence leave
Under the NES, every employee, including casuals, can take 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave each year. It doesn’t build up over time, it resets every 12 months from their start date, and it doesn’t carry over.
PeopleTeam handles these requests so the person stays safe and their privacy is protected:
- Goes straight to HR. The request skips the manager.
- Hidden from others. Managers, teammates and calendars only show Other leave. Only the person, HR and administrators can see the real leave type.
- No reason needed. The reason field is optional. If you need evidence, ask for it privately and don’t upload it to PeopleTeam unless the person agrees.
- Payslips. By law, payslips must not show family and domestic violence leave. If you pay through Xero, link this leave type to a pay item with a neutral name, such as ordinary hours, and check how it appears on a test payslip.
Keep the details to as few people as possible. If someone is in danger, call 000. 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) offers confidential support.
Community service leave
This covers jury duty and voluntary emergency management activities, such as SES or rural fire service work. Full-time and part-time employees get make-up pay for the first 10 days of jury duty. Emergency service leave is usually unpaid. Check the relevant award or agreement.
Approve as unpaid
When an employee has no paid balance left, or asks for the time to be unpaid, HR can choose Approve as unpaid in Approvals. Nothing is taken from their balance. If Xero is connected, the leave is sent to the unpaid Xero leave type you linked in the setup review.
Opening balances
When you first set up PeopleTeam, or when someone joins with leave carried over:
- Open the person’s record and go to Time off.
- Click Add opening balance, choose the leave type, the hours and the date it applies from.
Accrual continues from the latest opening balance.
Long service leave
LSL rules follow the employee’s work location state. If no location is set, the organisation’s state is used, then Victoria.
| State | Available after | Entitlement |
|---|---|---|
| VIC | 7 years | 1/60 of service |
| NSW | 10 years | 2 months for 10 years |
| QLD | 10 years | 8.6667 weeks for 10 years |
Other states follow their own rules, which PeopleTeam applies automatically. Always check an unusual case against the legislation.
If you use Xero
When Xero is connected, Xero holds the balances and PeopleTeam shows them. Change balances in Xero, not in PeopleTeam.