Family and Domestic Violence Leave in Australia: What Employers Must Know

Since 1 February 2023, every employee in Australia — including casuals — is entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave per year. It is one of the most significant changes to the National Employment Standards in a decade, and it comes with strict confidentiality obligations that many employers are still not fully aware of.

If you are not tracking this leave type separately, not protecting employee confidentiality, or still classifying it as personal leave, you are exposed to compliance risk. This guide covers every aspect of the entitlement: who qualifies, how it works, what it can be used for, evidence requirements, and the confidentiality rules you cannot afford to get wrong.

The Core Entitlement

Under the Fair Work Act, all employees covered by the national workplace relations system are entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave per year. This entitlement was introduced by the Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Act 2022.

The key features:

• 10 days per year, paid at the employee’s full rate of pay (including loadings and penalties for casuals)
• Available from the first day of employment — there is no qualifying period, no accrual, no waiting
• Applies to all employees — full-time, part-time, and casual
• Does not accumulate from year to year — unused days are lost when the 12-month period resets
• The 12-month period resets on the employee’s work anniversary, not the calendar year
• It is a completely separate entitlement from personal leave, annual leave, and compassionate leave

This is one of the very few paid leave entitlements that extends to casual employees. Casual employees receive 10 days paid at their full rate — which includes their casual loading and any penalties that would normally apply to the hours they would have worked.

What Family and Domestic Violence Means

The Fair Work Act defines family and domestic violence as violent, threatening, or other abusive behaviour by a close relative of the employee, or by a current or former intimate partner, that:

• Seeks to coerce or control the employee, or
• Causes the employee to be fearful for their safety or wellbeing, or the safety or wellbeing of another person

A “close relative” includes the employee’s partner, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, or any other person the employee regards as a close relative. An intimate partner includes current and former spouses and de facto partners.

The definition is deliberately broad. It covers physical violence, but also encompasses emotional abuse, financial control, stalking, threats, coercive control, and other patterns of abusive behaviour that do not involve physical harm.

What the Leave Can Be Used For

An employee can take family and domestic violence leave to do anything necessary to deal with the impact of family violence. The Fair Work Act does not provide an exhaustive list, but common uses include:

• Attending court proceedings — hearing dates, intervention order applications, family law proceedings related to the violence
• Arranging alternative housing — finding a new place to live, moving belongings, setting up a safe living arrangement
• Attending medical or counselling appointments — physical injuries, mental health support, trauma counselling
• Arranging safety measures — changing locks, installing security systems, transferring children to a different school
• Accessing police services — reporting incidents, providing statements, collecting evidence
• Meeting with legal representatives — obtaining legal advice, preparing court documents
• Any other activity related to the impact of the violence — the legislation recognises that the effects of family violence are wide-ranging and unpredictable

The employee does not need to be the direct target of the violence in every circumstance. If an employee needs to take action because of violence directed at a family member living with them, that can also qualify.

How It Differs From Other Leave Types

Family and domestic violence leave sits alongside — not within — other leave entitlements. Here is how it compares:

Feature	Family/Domestic Violence Leave	Personal/Carer’s Leave	Compassionate Leave
Annual entitlement	10 days/year	10 days/year (permanent)	2 days per occasion
Casual employees	Paid	Unpaid carer’s only	Unpaid
Accumulates	No	Yes (no cap)	No
Available from day one	Yes	Accrues progressively	Yes
Confidentiality rules	Strict — not on payslips	Standard	Standard
Reduces other leave	No	No	No

Using family and domestic violence leave does not reduce an employee’s personal leave, annual leave, or compassionate leave balances. If an employee has exhausted their 10 days of family violence leave, they may be able to access personal leave or annual leave for ongoing needs — but those are separate entitlements.

For detailed information on how personal leave interacts with family violence leave, see our guide to personal leave, sick leave, and carer’s leave in Australia.

Confidentiality: The Non-Negotiable Rules

This is the area where employers face the greatest legal risk. The Fair Work Act imposes specific confidentiality obligations on employers that go beyond normal privacy requirements.

What the Law Requires

1. Pay slips must not include any reference to family and domestic violence leave. This is not a suggestion — it is a legislative requirement. The purpose is to prevent a perpetrator who has access to the employee’s financial documents from discovering that the employee has taken action related to family violence.

2. Employers must take reasonable steps to keep information about the leave confidential. “Reasonable steps” includes restricting access to leave records, storing information securely, and not discussing the leave with colleagues or other managers who do not need to know.

3. Information should only be shared with people who genuinely need it. This typically means the employee’s direct manager and the person processing payroll. HR business partners, team members, and senior leaders do not automatically need access.

What Getting It Wrong Looks Like

Breaching confidentiality can lead to civil penalties under the Fair Work Act. But beyond legal liability, the real-world consequences can be severe. Disclosing that an employee has taken family violence leave could alert a perpetrator, compromise the employee’s safety plan, or undermine their trust in your organisation at precisely the moment they most need support.

If a perpetrator sees “Family Violence Leave — 2 days” on a payslip that they have access to (for example, in a shared bank account or a joint tax return), that information could trigger further violence. This is exactly why the legislation prohibits it from appearing on payslips.

Notice and Evidence Requirements

Notice

An employee must tell their employer that they are taking, or have taken, family and domestic violence leave as soon as practicable. This can be before or after the leave begins. The Fair Work Act recognises that someone in a crisis situation may not be able to provide advance notice.

The notice does not need to be in writing, though many employers prefer this for record-keeping. It does not need to include details of the violence — the employee only needs to advise that they are taking family and domestic violence leave and the expected duration.

Evidence

Employers can request evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person that the leave was taken for a genuine family violence purpose. Acceptable evidence includes:

• A police report or document issued by the police
• A court document — intervention order, court attendance notice, family court order
• A document from a registered family violence support service — a referral letter, case note, or confirmation of engagement
• A statutory declaration from the employee

The evidence requirement must be reasonable in the circumstances. Requiring a police report when the employee has provided a statutory declaration, or insisting on a court document when the employee has a letter from a family violence service, would generally be unreasonable.

Employees are not required to disclose specific details of the violence. A document confirming that the employee is engaging with a family violence support service is sufficient — you do not need to know what specific acts of violence occurred.

For a broader understanding of leave entitlements under the NES, see our National Employment Standards leave guide.

Payment: How Much and How Calculated

Family and domestic violence leave is paid at the employee’s full rate of pay at the time the leave is taken. For full-time and part-time employees, this is their base rate of pay for ordinary hours of work.

For casual employees, the payment includes the employee’s casual loading and any penalties or loadings that would have applied to the hours they would have worked. This is significant because it means a casual who normally works Sunday penalty rates would receive payment at that penalty rate — not just the base rate.

The payment is treated as ordinary income for tax purposes and is subject to normal PAYG withholding. Superannuation contributions apply in the same way as for other types of paid leave.

Interaction With Other Entitlements

Family and domestic violence leave is designed to be standalone, but it interacts with other entitlements in important ways:

• After 10 days are used: The employee may access personal leave, annual leave, or unpaid leave for ongoing needs related to family violence. This should be managed sensitively.
• During the leave period: The employee continues to accrue annual leave and personal leave, as with any period of paid leave.
• On termination: Unused family and domestic violence leave is not paid out. It is not an accrued entitlement — it resets each year and has no cash value on termination.
• Redundancy: The leave is not considered when calculating redundancy payments.

Practical Steps for Employers

1. Set up family and domestic violence leave as a separate leave type in your leave management system. Do not lump it in with personal leave or miscellaneous leave.

2. Ensure it does not appear on payslips. Check your payroll configuration — if your system prints leave type names or balances on payslips, you need to exclude this leave type.

3. Restrict access to records. Only the employee’s direct manager and payroll should have visibility. This may require adjusting permissions in your HR or leave management platform.

4. Train managers. Make sure anyone who might receive a family violence leave request knows how to handle it — confidentially, without probing for details, and with referral information to support services such as 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

5. Have a policy. Even if it is brief, a written policy that outlines how the organisation handles family violence leave — including confidentiality, evidence, and support — provides clarity and consistency.

For comprehensive compliance guidance across all leave types, see our Fair Work leave compliance guide.

How Leave Balance Helps

Leave Balance treats family and domestic violence leave as a fully separate leave type with built-in confidentiality protections. Leave balances for this type are not displayed on any standard reports, do not appear on payslip exports, and access is restricted to authorised personnel only. The system tracks the 10-day entitlement per anniversary year, handles casual loading in payment calculations, and keeps records separate from other leave types.

All of this for AUD $29/month with unlimited employees. Start a free trial today.