Recent changes to advice from Fair Work and the ATO regarding the reporting of Family & Domestic Violence Leave (FDVL) means that a change is needed to the setup of the Leave in each of your Awards with the leave setup.
Employees have access to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period.
This applies to Full-time, Part-time and Casual employees where they will be able to access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period. It won’t be pro-rated for part-time or casual employees.
The full 10-day leave entitlement will be available upfront. It won’t accumulate from year to year if it’s not used.
The leave will be available from:
1 February 2023, for employees of non-small business employers (employers with 15 or more employees on 1 February 2023)
1 August 2023, for employees of small business employers (employers with less than 15 employees on 1 February 2023).
The new leave provisions will be independently reviewed after 12 months to consider the impacts on small businesses, sole traders, and people experiencing family and domestic violence.
Employees will continue to be entitled to 5 days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave until they can access the new paid entitlement see below for setup.
For more information review: Fair Work
For more information review: Fair Work payslips
The ATO have recently updated their guidance for reporting of the leave on payslips and STP to align with Fair Work .
There are special rules for reporting paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave (FDVL) to align with the restrictions in the Fair Work Regulations 2009 on how that information is to be displayed on payslips. STP reporting of FDVL amounts should reflect the payment type shown on the employee's payslip. This may be as:
Gross if shown as an employee’s ordinary hours of work or;
a payment made in relation to the performance of the employee’s work, including (but not limited to) an allowance, bonus or a payment of overtime or;
where requested by the employee (or, before 4 June 2023, where an employer is making use of the grace period contained in the regulations), an amount paid for taking a period of another type of leave (other than a period of paid family and domestic violence leave).
There is a grace period until 4 June 2023 for employers to meet this requirement to report paid family and domestic violence leave on payslips as ordinary hours of work.
How to set up 10 Family & Domestic Violence Leave days in WageEasy from 2023.
Go to Setup, Awards, double click the award the employee is attached to, and choose Leave on the left hand side.
Select Add/Delete Leave which will open the Leave Type Wizard, Nex
Select Add new leave type, Next.
4. On the Enter Details of the New Leave Type page:
Leave Type: FDV
Description, type Miscellaneous Leave, and Tab.
Short Description will display the same as Description.
Enter a GL Code if applicable (leave blank if unsure).
Leave Show Leave Total on Employee Pay Slips, and
Show Leave Entitlement on Employee Pay Slips unchecked.
Next.
5. Next, Next, Finish
You now have a new leave type for Miscellaneous Leave.
Once Miscellaneous Leave has been created follow the next steps to complete the setup of the Leave.
Go to Miscellaneous Leave and Accruals Tab, select edit to set the Calculation as Block and Rate as 76.00000
2. Go to Accrual Conditions Tab, the drop-down for Create additional accrual records is Each year, on the anniversary of the employee’s commencement and tick the box for Leave does not carry forward.
3. Go to Payments Tabs, tick the boxes
Do not show hours for this leave type on the pay slip
Payments can be edited at Wages Processing
Adjust hours taken, but do not make payments for this leave type
Note: With these changed settings, this leave type will be used only to record the hours taken as FDVL, but no payment will be made to this leave type and no FDVL will show on the payslip or be STP reported.
4. Go to Other Tab, untick box for Include leave payments in superannuation calculation and Include leave payments in period overtime calculation
Make these changes manually to each Award
From Leave, Miscellaneous Leave, Payments, tick boxes
Full Time/Part Time Awards
Do not show hours for this leave type on the pay slip
Payments can be edited at Wages Processing
Adjust hours taken, but do not make payments for this leave type
Casual Awards
Do not show hours for this leave type on the pay slip
Payments can be edited at Wages Processing
Adjust hours taken, but do not make payments for this leave type
Pay Rate Loading 0.00%
From Leave, Miscellaneous Leave,Other, untick
All Awards,
Calculation – Include leave payments in superannuation calculation and Include leave payments in period overtime calculation
With these changes made to the FDV/Miscellaneous Leave setup in each of the Awards, the leave type will be used to record the leave accrual, taking and entitlement but not report on payslips. This is in line with rules about how paid family and domestic violence leave should be reported on payslips and employer’s requirement to keep records of leave balances and leave taken by employees. During a period of paid family and domestic leave being taken, it is best practice for the employer to record this on the pay slip in a way that makes the pay slip look as close as possible to how it would have looked if the employee had not taken the leave, such as ordinary hours of work, or another kind of payment for performing work, such as an allowance, bonus, or overtime payment.
After making these changes, run Leave Entitlement report to set the new leave configuration.
When processing the payslip with FDVL, enter the employees’ timesheet as they would have worked to pay the normal pay.
Enter timesheet
Adjustments, Leave, Add the Miscellaneous/FDV Leave. The payment amount will be $0.00
The resultant payslip will not detail the FDVL entry
The Employee file will show the FDV leave entitlement and taken details
Payment for leave
Full-time and part-time employees can take paid family and domestic violence leave at their full pay rate for the hours they would have worked if they weren't on leave.
Casual employees will be paid at their full pay rate for the hours they were rostered to work in the period they took leave.
An employee's full pay rate is their base rate plus any:
incentive-based payments and bonuses
loadings
monetary allowances
overtime or penalty rates
any other separately identifiable amounts.
This change is in accordance with the Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Act 2022 the new entitlement comes into effect on 1 February 2023. If there are any further updates, this article will be updated accordingly.
If there are any further updates, this article will be updated accordingly.