Chapter 4 – Leave
4.1 Leave provisions - general
The following sections contain policy and procedures on the leave entitlements of all teachers, permanent, temporary and casual, including full-time and part time teachers. Unless where specifically noted otherwise (eg Vacation Pay) these leave types also apply to Non School Based Teaching Service Staff. The information in this Chapter does not apply to teachers at the Saturday School of Community Languages.
Leave simplification
As part of the implementation of the SAP HR Payroll system changes were introduced to simplify how some teachers’ leave types are calculated and, in some instances, to align leave types with the NSW Public Service.
The changes related mainly to the way leave is accrued and administered. Where an entitlement has changed it was assessed in the context of the full suite of changes to have little or no impact on teachers leave overall.
Key changes, effective from the implementation of the new payroll system, include:
- A five day per week remuneration model;
- A prospective accrual model for vacation pay;
- Vacations to be treated as a payment rather than a leave type, other than Annual Leave;
- The accrual rate for leave to be based on paid service and leave;
- Alignment of leave accrual rules for teachers with the Public Service for FACS and sick leave.
Applying for leave
Teachers should be aware that when applying for leave, the leave applied for must be stated in fractions of a day rather than hours.
When an absence involves part of a day, leave is granted for ¼, ½ or ¾ of a day, as appropriate. When calculating leave any period of up to and including:
- 1¾ hours is debited as one quarter of a day
- 3½ hours is debited as one half of a day
- 5¼ hours is debited as three quarters of a day
For the purposes of leave calculations a full time day is seven hours for all permanent and temporary (full time and part time) teachers.
Teachers applying for leave of more than 6 months should consider the implications for their NESA accreditation.
Find out more about taking a leave of absence from accreditation.
Employee Self Service (ESS)
Teachers should submit leave requests online using SAP ESS. Through ESS teachers can also review their leave history, check current leave balances and forecast future leave balances.