HABA explains employee and employer rights when it comes to community service and jury duty.
Community service leave is an entitlement under the National Employment Standards which allows employees to carry out a number of community service activities. There are two main aspects of community service leave; Voluntary Emergency Management Activities and Jury Service.
Voluntary Emergency Management Activities
There is no set limit on the amount of community service leave an employee is entitled to and a Voluntary Emergency Management Activity relates to activities which may deal with an emergency or natural disaster and must be undertaken on a voluntary basis. The activity should also be in conjunction with a recognised emergency management body, such as the State Emergency Service, and there should be a reasonable expectation that the employee would be requested to undertake these activities.
In order to undertake this form of leave, notice must be given as soon as possible and the employee must let the employer know how long they expect to be on leave. The employer may request reasonable evidence from the employee if they wish to undertake this leave.
This leave is not paid for by the employer.
Jury Duty
Jury duty is the only form of paid community service leave for full-time and part-time employees. An employee is entitled to ‘make up’ pay for the first 10 days that the employee is absent from work due to Jury duty.
Make up pay is the difference between any jury service payment the employee receives, and the employee’s base rate of pay for the hours they would have worked on the day. This payment does not include loadings, allowances, and overtime or penalty rates.
The employer is able to request reasonable evidence to determine the exact amount received through jury duty and to calculate the make up pay. It is also important for employers to check the relevant State or Territory law for any provisions which may be more beneficial than the National Employment Standards. Should more beneficial laws be relevant, those laws will apply.
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