Public service bosses incorrectly tell workers who are victims of family violence to use personal leave
PUBLIC servants have been guaranteed up to three weeks domestic violence leave after some bosses had incorrectly tried to make them use their own annual leave and sick leave first.
PUBLIC servants have been guaranteed up to three weeks domestic violence leave after some bosses had failed to properly interpret the new scheme.
The measure was introduced as a “guideline” in 2016 and allows victims 15 days of leave to deal with the trauma of violence.
But some department bosses had been confusing this with other forms of leave, such as compassionate leave for a death in the family
The policy has now been enshrined in the public service enterprise agreement, with a clear direction that the 15 days are guaranteed and stand-alone from leave to deal with other problems.
Commissioner for Public Sector Employment Erma Ranieri said: “To make things clearer, the Agreement now specifies the 15 days leave domestic/ family violence entitlement as a separate form of leave, distinguishing it from other leave arrangements’’.
PSA secretary Nev Kitchen said it had made the inclusion of the 15 days leave a condition of the new agreement because department heads had not known how to interpret the guideline.
“Departments were using their own interpretations as to when employees could access the leave, generally incorrectly trying to require them to use their own annual leave and sick leave first,’’ he said.
The public service does not centrally keep information on the number of 106,118 full and part-time workers who have taken leave because of domestic violence, to help them maintain confidentiality.
Mr Kitchen said for the first time, department bosses had to take domestic and family violence into account when assessing workplace perform-ance or conduct.
“Often the case is that the domestic and family violence an employee is experiencing only becomes evident after an issue regarding workplace performance or conduct is raised,’’ he said.