By Tyler Wright
The Victorian Government has made a submission to the Fair Work Commission’s Family and Domestic Violence Leave Review pushing for ongoing employees in the private sector to receive at least 10 days’ paid family violence leave.
Victorian public sector employees including nurses and teachers have already had access to 20 days of paid family violence leave since 2015, with an average of 0.3 per cent of public sector employees across three of the largest departments accessing it in the past year.
Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave gives employees the chance to seek safe housing and attend medical appointments and court hearings without exhausting other forms of leave.
Employees are able to seek support from their manager, human resources, union representative or a specially trained family violence contact in the workplace if they wish to use this leave.
CEO of Eastern Community Legal Centre Michael Smith said there is a significant problem with family violence in the eastern suburbs which has increased during the pandemic.
“The demand for our services around family violence, both through people contacting us directly and through our partnerships and work at the court for intervention orders, has never been higher,” Mr Smith said.
He said family violence leave can relieve families of stress as they move through a situation of family violence.
“It also helps to teach employers of all kinds some context around that and how they can be supportive employers.”
“I think the use of family violence leave is increasing. But what we really have to do is to have people, including employers, understand that family violence is really common,” he said.
“If people are experiencing family violence and need support we’re always really happy for them to give us a call and we’ll see what we can do to help.”
Final oral submissions for the Family and Domestic Violence Leave Review were listed on Friday 8 April.
If this article has raised issues for you or you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
