With the Coronavirus, COVID-19 outbreak, it’s timely to do a quick re-cap on Australian Workplace Laws.

Employees and employers are encouraged to work together to find appropriate solutions that suit the needs of individual workplaces and staff. This may include taking different forms of leave, working from home, or taking extra precautions in the workplace.

In summary, as it currently stands:

  • If employer stands down an employee (that is,  you MUST be in quarantine for 14 days) it’s paid leave
  • If an employee wants to stay at home as a precaution against being exposed to coronavirus, they will need to make a request to work from home (if possible) or to take some form of paid or unpaid leave, such as annual leave or long service leave. These requests are subject to the normal leave application process in the workplace.
  • An employer can ask team members to work from home (voluntarily) 

 

Please note, this is not legal advice and it is our understanding at the time of writing. Best resource to keep up to date with Australian Workplace Laws and COVID-19 is the Fairwork website.

Maree Herath

With over twenty five years working in recruitment, Maree has significant global experience recruiting for some of APACs leading brands across Melbourne, Perth and Hong Kong.

Join our mailing list

Get tips like this delivered straight to your inbox. We promise we don’t spam!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.