At UniSA, we recognise that family and domestic violence is a concern both for the community and our workplace and we are committed to supporting our staff who experience family and domestic violence.
If a staff member is experiencing, or has experienced, family and domestic violence, they can access paid and unpaid domestic violence leave as well as other types of leave and support both in the workplace and externally to enable their wellbeing and engagement at work. The following information provides details on how staff can access paid and unpaid leave and the supports available to them, together with information for supervisors on how they can support their staff who experience family and domestic violence.
We continue to welcome feedback on how we can best support our staff to feel safe and supported via email to PTCFeedback@unisa.edu.au.
All personal and/or sensitive information will be kept confidential in accordance with the University’s Workplace Confidentiality Guidelines and Privacy Policy.
The University may have an obligation to share personal and/or sensitive information with relevant authorities (e.g., SAPOL) where an unacceptable risk to a staff member or children in their care is identified.
Where required and/or relevant, any sharing of personal and/or sensitive information will be advised to the staff member.
All Family and Domestic Violence leave taken will appear on a staff member’s pay slip as ‘Ordinary Payment’ to ensure confidentiality is maintained.
There are a range of support options available to staff impacted by family and domestic violence. We encourage staff members to consider accessing UniSA’s free, confidential Employee Assistance Program on 1300 277 924 or other support services available outside the University. The contact details for some of those support services are included below.
Staff members can also contact the Strategic People Partner (SPP) for their work area and the SPP can provide confidential support to the staff member by assisting with their request access to paid or unpaid family and domestic violence leave. The SPP can also facilitate arrangements within the staff member’s work area through liaison with the relevant supervisor and/or timesheet approver.
A staff member may also request to implement or change a flexible work arrangement and/or to change a staff member’s work location, phone number, and/or email address. Any such request can be addressed in the first instance with the support of the relevant SPP and/or their supervisor.
The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is provided by Human Psychology and free of charge to all UniSA staff and their immediate family. Appointments can be made from Monday to Friday by calling 1300 277 924.
EAP Manager Assist is a service provided by our EAP Provider that can help supervisors with work related questions, including how to support their staff. They can be contacted on 1300 277 924 to arrange a consultation time or phone call with one of the EAP team.
If you are in danger, call 000 for ambulance or police response. For non-urgent police assistance, call 131 444.
1800 RESPECT is a national counselling and support service for people impacted by sexual assault, domestic and family violence. You can call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 - the hotline is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can also chat online via their website.
For crisis support and suicide prevention, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 (24 hours, 7 days a week) or visit their website.
www.womenssafetyservices.com.au
Email: contact@womenssafetyservices.com.au
Women’s Safety Services SA has a range of services and programs to assist South Australians. They are an inclusive, non-government organisation accredited under Service Excellence. They can assist with immediate safety response, accommodation, material assistance, advice and information, advocacy, living skills development and health and wellbeing support.
SHine SA is the lead sexual health agency in South Australia and welcomes people who are intersex, gender diverse and of all sexualities. SHine SA is a provider of primary care services and education for sexual and relationship wellbeing. They provide nurse-led and medical clinical assessment, treatment and counselling services across nine clinical sites. SHine SA may charge a fee for service.
QLife is a national telephone and web counselling service for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people, families and friends. QLife provides nation-wide, early intervention, peer supported telephone and web based services to people of all ages across the full breadth of people’s bodies, genders, relationships, sexualities, and lived experiences.
Lifeline is a national charity providing anyone experiencing a personal crisis with access to 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention services. This is a free service.
beyondblue provides free information and support to help everyone in Australia achieve their best possible mental health, whatever their age and wherever they live.
Yarrow Place is the lead public health agency responding to adult rape and sexual assault in South Australia. They provide free, direct services to people aged 16 years or older who have been raped or sexually assaulted or who were aged 16 years or older at the time of the assault.
Direct services include 24 hour crisis response service (medical and counselling services for recent sexual assault), professional counselling, therapeutic support groups for recent and past sexual assault, collection of forensic evidence as requested by those people who have made, or wish to make, a report to the police and referral to other services, as appropriate.
MensLine Australia is a telephone and online counselling service for men with family and relationship concerns.
The Men’s Referral Service is a men’s family violence telephone counselling, information and referral service operating across Australia run by No to Violence and is the central point of contact for men taking responsibility for their violent behaviour. They also provide support and referrals for women and men seeking information on behalf of their male partners, friends or family members, and workers in a range of agencies seeking assistance for their clients who are men.
New minimum standards for family and domestic violence leave, as provided by the National Employment Standards (NES), commenced from 1 February 2023. These new minimum standards provide an entitlement to 10 days paid leave to all senior, academic and professional continuing, fixed term and casual staff in each 12 month period of employment.
To enable staff members to access the new entitlement and appropriate support, the Special Leave Procedure has been revised and further information about the entitlement and process to apply for paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave is outlined in the Procedure. In the event additional paid or unpaid leave is required above this new entitlement, staff members covered by the University of South Australia Enterprise Agreement 2023 can request further support from the Executive Director: People, Talent and Culture as they do now. The revised Special Leave Procedure provides advice on the appropriate steps to take to access support.
This entitlement applies to all academic, professional and senior staff irrespective of whether they are covered by:
The following information provides details on paid and unpaid leave entitlements available to them.
The leave is intended to assist staff members who experience family and domestic violence that is violent, threatening or arises from other abusive behaviour by a close relative of the staff member, a member of their household, or a current or former intimate partner of the staff member, that seeks to coerce and control the staff member and causes them harm or to be fearful.
A staff member experiencing family and domestic violence can take the paid leave to deal with the impact of that violence and where it is impractical for the staff member to manage the impact outside of their ordinary work hours. Whilst not intended to be exhaustive, examples of situations include:
We recognise that staff members may have a diverse range of living and family arrangements. If circumstances differ to these examples, staff members are encouraged to contact the Strategic People Partner (SPP) for their work area to discussion their individual situation.
Continuing, fixed term and casual staff can access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave on and from 1 February 2023. The entitlement does not accrue or accumulate from year to year like other forms of paid leave such as recreation, personal and long service leave, however, it resets to the maximum 10 days on the staff member’s employment anniversary for each year thereafter.
For example, a staff member who starts employment with the University on 11 October 2022 is entitled to ten (10) days of paid family and domestic violence leave on 1 February 2023 and the entitlement would thereafter reset on 11 October of each year of their employment with the University.
The employment anniversary date for a fixed term and casual staff member is taken to be the start of the staff member’s first employment with the University.
No, any leave from the 10 day entitlement not taken in any one year is not paid out if a staff member ceases employment with the University.
If a continuing, fixed term or casual staff member covered by the University of South Australia Enterprise Agreement 2023 (the Enterprise Agreement), exhausts their 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave entitlement within a 12 month period and prior to the entitlement resetting on their employment anniversary, clause 47 of the Enterprise Agreement enables a staff member to apply to the Executive Director: People, Talent and Culture for approval for special leave, with or without pay.
A staff member may also, where eligible, access family responsibility, personal, carer’s, recreation and/or long service leave.
A staff member seeking to access their family and domestic violence leave should contact their relevant Strategic People Partner (SPP) at the earliest possible opportunity to discuss their needs.
Continuing and fixed term staff
When you are ready to submit your application for Family and Domestic Violence Leave, fill out the HRIS008 Leave of Absence form, the leave type should be Special Leave With Pay and the reason Other, as well as the rostered hours of work you are seeking to take as paid leave.
Send the completed form to your Supervisor/VCA holder for approval.
Casual staff
When you are ready to submit your application for Family and Domestic Violence Leave, please complete the following:
Send both the Casual Pay Calculator and your Leave of Absence form to your casual contract supervisor/VCA holder for approval.
No, there is no minimum amount that is required to be taken.
A staff member may be required to provide evidence in support of an application for paid family and domestic violence leave that would satisfy a reasonable person of the staff member’s need to access the leave. If requested by a supervisor, information that can be provided in support of an application includes, but is not limited to, documents issued by police or the court, a family violence support service, or a statutory declaration.
If a continuing, fixed term or casual staff member covered by the University of South Australia Enterprise Agreement 2023 (the Enterprise Agreement) exhausts their 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave entitlement within a twelve month period and prior to the entitlement resetting on their employment anniversary, clause 47 of the Enterprise Agreement enables a staff member to apply to the Executive Director: People, Talent and Culture (ED: PTC) for approval for special leave, with or without pay.
An application to the ED: PTC for additional domestic violence leave can be made by email to ED:PTC and should include the amount of leave requested specifying whether the request is for leave with or without pay and the reasons for the leave request (e.g. to attend court proceedings or other reasons). The ED: PTC may seek additional information before deciding on an application as appropriate.
The ED: PTC will consider the staff member’s circumstances in determining whether additional domestic violence leave will be approved and the amount of additional leave to be approved.
A continuing or fixed term staff member will be paid at their normal hourly rate of pay for each hour taken as family and domestic violence leave.
A casual staff member will be paid for family and domestic violence leave taken as if the staff member had worked the hours in the period for which the staff member was rostered. A casual staff member is taken to have been rostered to work hours in a period if the staff member has accepted an offer of work for those hours. The Casual Pay Calculator will be used to calculate the total pay for the number of rostered hours the staff member is seeking to take as leave and must be submitted with the HRIS008 form.
Supervisors are responsible for facilitating the leave management process in accordance with these Procedures and the relevant Vice Chancellor Authorisation (i.e. 11.1, 11.4.a, 11.4.b). The following provides information for supervisors on how they can support their staff who experience family and domestic violence.
If a supervisor initiated a conversation with a staff member or a staff member confides in the supervisor on their own initiative, it’s important to respond with respect and consideration. Here are some helpful things to remember when responding:
Please contact the relevant Strategic People Partner for your work area on a confidential basis who will be able to support you and the impacted staff member.
Our EAP provider Human Psychology also offers an EAP Manager Assist program which can help support a supervisor with conversations with their staff. Simply call 1300 277 924 to arrange a consultation time or phone call with one of our EAP Psychologists.
The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has a range of resources available to assist supervisors to have supportive conversations with their staff. The FWO has developed a guide Employer Guide to Family and Domestic Violence which provides practical tips on how to support people impacted by family and domestic violence.
Although it is not a requirement, , a supervisor can request evidence in support of a family and domestic violence leave application. Types of evidence may include a document issued by the police, documents issued by a court, family violence support services documents or a statutory declaration. A supervisor can also contact their relevant Strategic People Partner who will be able to provide further advice.