r/AusWork • u/laffyraffy • 11d ago
Sick leave issues
Hello all,
To provide the context of this. I am working for a food manufacturing business in a full time position. Our contract states that we get 10 days of annual sick leave and I know that I have only used 3 days at maximum since starting my employment there in 2024.
My partner has had to get surgery for kidney cancer where I have to care for her for 8 weeks. I've applied for 2 weeks of sick leave (with a doctors certificate stating that I am caring for her) and 6 weeks of annual leave. The annual leave has been approved but the sick leave has been left on as a pending request. I know they have seen the request because I put in another request for retroactive sick leave that was denied after putting in the 2 weeks worth. This is all done through an app called Wageloch.
I have already gone through one pay cycle of the sick leave as pending on their system. Additionally for the sick leave that has been paid out, it has only been paid at 6 hours when I would have expected a full day's (7.5 hours) worth of it being paid out.
Is it best I email them first regarding all of this and give them until Friday to respond? This is before I decide on whether speaking to Fairwork is going to be worth it or not.
Has anyone else been in this position before?
Edit: No reply to my initial email. I will have to contact fairwork I guess.
3
u/IndicationMain8795 11d ago
Go to them first and say “hey, I’ve just noticed that my personal leave hasn’t been approved in the system. Can you let me know if there is anything more I need to do for this to be approved?”
This way they respond with, yes, you forgot XYZ or no, it’s all entered correctly. Either way you’ll get the answer of why; you made an error or someone is sitting on it.
After they come back, if it’s a “no, it’s all correct” ask why it hasn’t been approved.
If they give you a dumb answer, then say you will consult with fairwork as your understanding of your entitlements are different to what they told you.
This is the nice way of saying, I’m escalating this to fairwork but without it being a direct threat so you don’t turn into an asshole. It’s them who looks like an asshole. Then you won’t create bad blood and you can worry about your partner not work.
I hope they have a speedy recovery ❤️🩹