Community Service Leave Explained: Australian Employment Essentials

From bushfire responses to jury duty, Australians step up for their communities. As an employer, you need to support that civic duty while keeping your workplace compliant and running smoothly.

Community service leave is a National Employment Standard (NES) entitlement. Get it right, and you’ll meet your legal obligations, look after your people, and avoid payroll headaches. In this guide, we break down what community service leave covers, who’s eligible, how to manage notice and evidence, and what to pay.

If you’re setting up policies or you’ve just received a jury summons from an employee, keep reading - we’ll walk you through the essentials in plain English.

What Is Community Service Leave?

Community service leave gives employees time off for certain civic or emergency activities. Under the Fair Work Act, it covers two main situations:

• Jury service (including selection and serving on a jury)
• Voluntary emergency management activities (for example, responding with the SES, RFS, CFA, CFS, or similar recognised bodies)

Two key points to know:

• Jury service includes a paid element called “make-up pay” for eligible employees for the first 10 days.
• Voluntary emergency management activities are generally unpaid but protected - you must release eligible employees to attend.

Community service leave doesn’t accrue like annual or personal leave. Employees access it when required, provided they meet the criteria and give reasonable notice and evidence.

Who Is Eligible And How Much Leave Can Be Taken?

Most employees in Australia are covered by the NES. Eligibility differs slightly depending on the activity.

Jury Service (Selection And Service)

• Who’s eligible: Full-time and part-time employees are entitled to take leave for jury selection and jury service. Casual employees are entitled to unpaid time off (and may receive state/territory juror allowances).
• How much leave: As long as needed for selection, service, reasonable travel time, and (where relevant) a short recovery period.
• Pay: Full-time and part-time employees must receive “make-up pay” for the first 10 days of jury service (more on how to calculate this below). Beyond that, the leave is unpaid unless an award or agreement says otherwise. Casuals are not entitled to make-up pay.

Voluntary Emergency Management Activities

• Who’s eligible: Employees who are members (or volunteers) of a recognised emergency management body and are requested to respond to an emergency or a situation reasonably seen as an emergency.
• How much leave: As long as reasonably required to deal with the emergency - including reasonable travel and recovery time.
• Pay: Unpaid under the NES (some organisations reimburse volunteers separately - that doesn’t change the leave entitlement).

Does Community Service Leave Count As Service?

Taking community service leave won’t break an employee’s continuity of service. However, time on unpaid community service leave generally doesn’t accrue other leave entitlements (like annual leave). Where an employee receives make-up pay for jury service, accrual rules can be impacted by awards or enterprise agreements - check the applicable industrial instrument or seek advice to confirm how accruals are handled in your workplace.

Notice And Evidence: What Can You Ask For?

Employees must let you know as soon as practicable that they’ll be taking community service leave and reasonably outline the expected duration. For emergencies, that might be a phone call or text before they head out; for jury duty, it’s usually when they receive a summons.

Jury Service Evidence

• A copy of the jury summons (before service begins)
• A certificate or attendance record from the court confirming the days the employee attended
• Evidence of the juror allowance paid by the court (so you can accurately calculate make-up pay)

Emergency Service Evidence

• A letter or statement from the emergency management body confirming the employee’s membership/volunteer status, the emergency, dates/times, and the request to attend
• Any additional documentation reasonably required to verify attendance and duration

It’s reasonable to outline your notice and evidence expectations in a clear policy and your Employment Contract. This keeps everyone on the same page and helps payroll get payments right.

Managing Pay: How Does Jury Service Make-Up Pay Work?

Make-up pay is designed so eligible employees don’t lose income for the first 10 days of their jury service.

Here’s how it works in practice:

• Who gets make-up pay: Full-time and part-time employees for the first 10 days of jury service. Casuals aren’t entitled to make-up pay under the NES.
• What to pay: The difference between the employee’s base pay for ordinary hours they would have worked and the juror attendance allowance paid by the court.
• What not to deduct: Don’t offset travel, meal or other expense reimbursements - only deduct the juror attendance fee component.

Step-By-Step: Calculating Make-Up Pay

1. Confirm the ordinary hours the employee would have worked on each day of jury service (based on their roster).
2. Work out base pay for those hours (excluding loadings, overtime, penalties and allowances unless an award/EA says otherwise).
3. Obtain evidence of the daily juror allowance paid (excluding expense reimbursements).
4. Pay the difference (base pay minus juror allowance) for up to 10 days.

Tip: Set out this approach in a payroll procedure and a simple community service leave policy so managers know what to collect and when. Align your policy with your broader Workplace Policy framework and staff onboarding.

Practical Scenarios Employers Ask About

These are the questions we hear most often from employers. Use them as a checklist to tighten your processes.

Do Casuals Get Community Service Leave?

Yes, casuals are entitled to take time off for jury service (selection and service) and for voluntary emergency management activities. However, casuals don’t receive NES make-up pay for jury service. State/territory juror allowances may still apply to the individual - that’s separate to your employer obligations.

What If An Employee Is On Probation?

Probation doesn’t limit NES entitlements. If a new hire is summoned for jury duty or called to an emergency response during probation, they can access community service leave. It’s still a good idea to document your probation expectations and leave settings, and understand how this interacts with performance reviews. For more on the broader rules, see Taking Leave During Probation Period.

Can Employees Take Community Service Leave During Their Notice Period?

Yes - the entitlement still applies while an employee is working out their notice. You can ask for the usual notice and evidence. If the leave changes the end date or affects availability, work together to plan handover. Our guide on Employee Leave During Notice Period covers common scenarios and practical steps.

Do Employees Have To Use Annual Leave Instead?

No, you can’t force an employee to use annual leave instead of community service leave. They can choose to use paid annual leave after the paid make-up pay period for jury service ends, but that’s up to the employee.

What Counts As A “Recognised Emergency Management Body”?

These are organisations that respond to emergencies and are officially recognised (for example, SES, RFS, CFA, CFS, surf lifesaving rescuers when deployed for emergency response, and similar bodies). The activity must be a legitimate emergency (or reasonably regarded as one), and the employee must be requested to attend.

Does Community Service Leave Affect Leave Accruals?

Unpaid community service leave doesn’t generally accrue annual leave or personal/carer’s leave. Where awards or enterprise agreements interact with jury service pay, accrual outcomes can vary - clarify this in your payroll setup and confirm the applicable instrument.

Can We Decline Community Service Leave?

No. If an employee meets the criteria and provides reasonable notice and evidence, you must allow the leave. Taking community service leave is protected, and adverse action for using this entitlement can lead to serious legal consequences.

Setting Up Your Policy, Contracts And Payroll

Clear documentation makes community service leave simple to manage. Here’s how to put the right foundations in place.

Build The Rules Into Your Contracts And Policies

• Employment Contract: Include a clause that recognises NES entitlements (including community service leave), and sets out notification and evidence requirements in plain English.
• Workplace Policy: Create a short community service leave policy that covers eligibility, notice, evidence, and how payroll is handled (including make-up pay calculations).
• Staff Handbook: Add an employee-friendly summary so staff know who to contact, what to provide, and how to submit evidence.

Align Your Payroll Processes

• Set up a distinct leave code for community service leave (unpaid) and a payroll item for jury service make-up pay.
• Standardise the evidence you need (summons, court certificates, juror allowance details) and when to collect it.
• Train managers to escalate jury summons promptly to payroll so make-up pay is processed on time.

Keep Records

• Maintain copies of summons, attendance certificates and emergency body letters.
• Record dates and hours of leave taken, and retain calculations for make-up pay (including juror allowance offsets).
• Track when the 10-day make-up pay period has been used, to avoid over- or under-payments.

Address Edge Cases Upfront

• Overlapping leave: If an employee is already on annual leave when called for jury service, they should move to community service leave (and make-up pay) for the relevant period. Communicate how this will be managed.
• Multiple summons: Rare, but possible. Have a consistent approach to repeated jury service within a short period and how it affects scheduling.
• Enterprise agreements and awards: Some instruments add obligations (e.g. extra paid days). Check the applicable instrument and update your policy accordingly.

Unpaid Leave Settings

Community service leave (emergency activities and jury service beyond the first 10 days) is typically unpaid under the NES. It helps to align your broader Unpaid Leave settings with your community service leave policy, so employees and managers understand which leave bucket applies and how to request it.

Compliance Checklist For Employers

Use this checklist to stay on top of your obligations and reduce risk:

• Confirm the activity: jury service or a recognised voluntary emergency management activity.
• Collect notice as soon as practicable and ask for expected dates/hours.
• Obtain evidence (summons/court certificate/juror allowance details, or emergency body letter).
• Release the employee for as long as required, including reasonable travel and recovery time.
• Calculate and pay jury service make-up pay correctly for the first 10 days (FT/PT only).
• Don’t offset travel/meal reimbursements against make-up pay.
• Track accruals appropriately (unpaid periods generally don’t accrue annual or personal leave).
• Record everything (dates, hours, evidence, calculations) in your HRIS or payroll system.
• Update contracts and policies so expectations are clear and compliant.
• Seek advice where an award/EA adds requirements or scenarios get complex.

If you’re uncertain about how your modern award or enterprise agreement interacts with community service leave, it’s wise to get tailored guidance from an Employment Lawyer before finalising payments.

Key Takeaways

• Community service leave under the NES covers jury service and voluntary emergency management activities, with specific rules for notice, evidence and duration.
• Full-time and part-time employees get jury service make-up pay for the first 10 days; casuals don’t receive make-up pay but can take unpaid time off.
• Voluntary emergency management leave is unpaid but protected - you must release eligible employees for as long as reasonably required.
• Set clear expectations in your Employment Contract, create a short community service leave policy, and align payroll to handle make-up pay accurately.
• Keep robust records and confirm if any award or enterprise agreement adds to these minimum standards.
• Getting early advice from an Employment Lawyer can prevent errors, especially when scenarios overlap with probation, notice periods or complex rostering.

If you’d like a consultation on setting up or applying a community service leave policy for your team, you can reach us at 1800 730 617 or team@sprintlaw.com.au for a free, no-obligations chat.