Natural Disasters and Employee Entitlements

2nd October 2013

The bush fires in NSW raise a question of how employers should treat employees who have volunteered to fight the fires, are unable to attend work due to the impact on their own family and homes or where they may not be usefully deployed at work.

Community service leave provided in the National Employment Standards NES) regulates the entitlements of employees that volunteer in these circumstances and the arrangements for notification to their employers. Generally, it is a matter of informing the employer as soon as possible and confirmation from the applicable emergency service that the employee is required for service. The employee should have provided information to their employer of their membership and participation in the volunteer emergency service well in advance of the actual fires occurring.

Paid Personal/Carer’s Leave may be used to provide care or support to a member of their immediate family, or a member of their household, who requires care or support because of an unexpected emergency including a natural disaster of this nature. If an employee has exhausted paid leave then they may claim two days unpaid leave on each occasion that they are required to provide care and support of the floods.

If your work premises are physically affected by the fires or business indirectly affected, you should consider sending employees on annual leave. If the situation icontinues and you do not have sufficient work for employees you should consider stand downs for short periods until normal work levels are resumed. However, this should be a last resort and please seek advice before you implement such a strategy.

Refer to the Fact Sheets provided by the Fair Work Ombudsman for further information or contact me.