Sick Leave Policy Template: What To Include

Yes, you can use a sick leave policy template as a starting point for your business - but it needs to match the Fair Work Act 2009, any modern award or enterprise agreement that applies, and your employment contracts.

The tricky part is that sick leave sounds simple until you have to make a call on evidence, notice, repeated absences, mental health days, casual staff, or someone taking leave right before a busy shift.

A good policy doesn't just repeat the law. It gives your team a clear process to follow, helps managers respond consistently, and gives you a fair way to deal with misuse concerns without overstepping.

Do You Need A Sick Leave Policy In Australia?

No, the Fair Work Act doesn't say every small business must have a written sick leave policy, but having one is usually a very good idea.

Your employees already have minimum personal/carer's leave rights under the National Employment Standards, often called the NES. Those rights apply whether or not you've written them into a policy. A policy helps explain how those rights work in your workplace.

For a small business, that practical clarity can make a big difference. Your policy can set out:

• Who your employee should contact when they're unwell
• When they need to give notice
• What evidence you may ask for
• How paid personal/carer's leave is recorded in payroll
• How you handle sick leave before or after annual leave, weekends or public holidays
• What happens if an employee doesn't follow the process

The policy also helps your managers avoid making different decisions for different people. That's especially helpful if you have supervisors rostering staff across different sites.

Say you run a cafe in Brisbane and two employees call in sick on Saturday morning. One texts the owner, the other messages a shift supervisor on Instagram, and no one knows whether a medical certificate is needed. A written policy can prevent the confusion by saying exactly who to contact, by what time, and what evidence may be required.

The policy should always sit underneath the law. If a clause in your policy gives less than the NES, an applicable award, or an enterprise agreement, that clause won't be reliable.

What Must Your Sick Leave Policy Say Under Fair Work?

Your policy should say that full-time and part-time employees are entitled to paid personal/carer's leave under the NES, and it shouldn't reduce those minimum rights.

Under the Fair Work Act, full-time employees get 10 days of paid personal/carer's leave each year. Part-time employees get the same entitlement on a pro rata basis, based on their ordinary hours of work.

Paid personal/carer's leave:

• Accrues progressively during the year
• Is based on ordinary hours of work
• Accumulates from year to year if it isn't used
• Can be used when the employee is unfit for work because of personal illness or injury
• Can also be used to care for or support an immediate family or household member because of illness, injury or an unexpected emergency

Casual employees don't get paid personal/carer's leave under the NES. However, they're entitled to unpaid carer's leave in certain situations, and some awards or agreements may have extra rules.

Your policy should also make it clear that personal/carer's leave is different from annual leave, compassionate leave, family and domestic violence leave, and workers compensation. They may overlap in real life, but they're different legal entitlements with different rules.

It also helps to include a simple payroll example.

Example: Maya works 38 ordinary hours per week as a full-time employee. Over a year, she accrues 10 days of paid personal/carer's leave. If she takes one sick day and her ordinary shift is 7.6 hours, 7.6 hours are deducted from her accrued balance and she is paid at her base rate of pay for those ordinary hours.

If your employees are covered by an award, check whether it adds any extra requirements about leave, evidence or rosters. The Fair Work Ombudsman can help you identify awards, but if you're unsure how an award applies to your business, it's worth getting advice.

When Can You Ask For Evidence?

You can ask for evidence of sick leave if the request is reasonable, and your policy should explain when and how you'll ask for it.

Under the Fair Work Act, an employee taking paid personal/carer's leave needs to give notice as soon as practicable. That can be after the leave has started if that's the earliest they can reasonably notify you.

They also need to tell you:

• That they're taking personal/carer's leave
• The expected period of the leave, if they can

If you require evidence, the evidence needs to be enough to satisfy a reasonable person that the leave is being taken for a permitted reason. Common examples include:

• A medical certificate from a doctor
• A certificate from a pharmacist, where appropriate
• A statutory declaration
• Other evidence that reasonably supports a carer's leave request, depending on the situation

Your policy can say you may ask for evidence even for a single day of sick leave. That said, you should apply this fairly and consistently. If you only ask one employee and never ask anyone else in similar circumstances, you may create unnecessary workplace issues.

A practical approach is to list situations where evidence will usually be required, such as:

• Absences of more than one consecutive working day
• Sick leave immediately before or after annual leave, a weekend or a public holiday
• Repeated single-day absences
• Absences during peak trading periods or important shifts
• Where required by an employment contract, award or enterprise agreement

Be careful with health information. Medical information is sensitive, and you should only ask for what you reasonably need to manage the leave and workplace safety. You usually don't need a full diagnosis. A certificate saying the employee is unfit for work, or fit with restrictions, will often be enough.

What Should A Sick Leave Policy Template Include?

A sick leave policy template should include the rules, process and evidence requirements for your workplace, but it should be tailored before you use it.

Free templates can be useful for structure, but they often miss award-specific rules, casual arrangements, privacy policy issues, and how your business actually rosters staff. A policy for a medical clinic with patient bookings won't look exactly like one for a software startup with a remote work policy.

Here is a practical outline you can use as a starting point. This isn't a finished legal document, and a lawyer should tailor it to your business before you roll it out.

1. Purpose: Explain that the policy sets out how personal/carer's leave is requested, approved, recorded and managed.
2. Who The Policy Applies To: State whether it applies to full-time, part-time and casual employees, and note any differences in entitlements.
3. Minimum Entitlements: Refer to the NES under the Fair Work Act, and say that awards, enterprise agreements or contracts may provide additional rights.
4. When Leave Can Be Taken: Cover illness, injury, and caring responsibilities for immediate family or household members.
5. Notice Requirements: Say who the employee must contact, how they should contact them, and that notice must be given as soon as practicable.
6. Evidence Requirements: List when evidence may be required and give examples such as medical certificates and statutory declarations.
7. Payment And Payroll: Explain that paid leave is paid at the employee's base rate for ordinary hours and recorded against their accrued balance.
8. Casual Employees: Explain that casuals don't receive paid personal/carer's leave under the NES, but may have unpaid leave rights.
9. Privacy And Records: Say how health information and leave records will be handled under your privacy policy and stored, who can access them, and how long records are kept.
10. Misuse Or Non-Compliance: Explain the process if an employee gives false information, doesn't provide evidence, or doesn't follow the notice process.
11. Interaction With Other Documents: State that the policy works with employment contracts, awards, enterprise agreements and other workplace policies.
12. Policy Changes: Reserve your right to update the policy, provided changes comply with the law and any contractual obligations.

Keep the language clear. The goal is for a shift supervisor, office manager or founder to apply the policy correctly without needing to decode legal wording every time someone calls in sick.

How Do You Handle Suspected Sick Leave Misuse?

You can investigate suspected misuse, but you need to handle it carefully, fairly and with proper records.

Misuse might include an employee repeatedly calling in sick after rostered weekends, refusing to provide evidence, or posting online content that appears inconsistent with the reason they gave for leave. Even then, don't jump straight to discipline.

Start with the facts you can prove. A fair process usually looks like this:

1. Check The Policy And Contract: Confirm what notice and evidence requirements apply.
2. Review The Leave Pattern: Look at dates, rosters, certificates, payroll records and previous communications.
3. Ask For Evidence If Appropriate: Make the request promptly and in writing.
4. Speak With The Employee: Give them a fair chance to explain what happened.
5. Keep Notes: Record dates, conversations, documents requested and documents received.
6. Decide On A Proportionate Response: That might be a reminder, a written warning, unpaid leave for an unsupported absence, or further action if there's serious misconduct.

Example: Mike runs a cleaning business with 12 employees. One employee calls in sick for four Monday shifts over six weeks. Mike's policy says evidence may be required for repeated single-day absences. He emails the employee asking for evidence for the latest absence and invites them to explain any ongoing issue affecting Monday availability. The employee provides a medical certificate and explains they're receiving treatment on Mondays. Mike discusses temporary flexible work arrangements and adjusts the roster for two weeks and reminds the employee about notice requirements.

That outcome is very different from assuming dishonesty. It protects the business while still treating the employee fairly.

If you think the employee has lied or provided false evidence, get advice before terminating employment. Dismissal connected to illness or injury can raise unfair dismissal, general protections or discrimination risks. An employee is also protected from dismissal for a temporary absence due to illness or injury in certain circumstances, including where the absence is supported by required evidence and is within the time limits under the Fair Work framework.

How Should Your Policy Work With Employment Contracts?

Your sick leave policy should support your employment contracts, not contradict them or accidentally create extra contractual rights.

Your employment contract should set out the core terms of employment, such as role, hours, pay, award coverage, confidential information and termination. Your sick leave policy should set out the day-to-day process for taking and managing personal/carer's leave.

Make sure both documents line up on:

• Whether the employee is full-time, part-time or casual
• Ordinary hours and roster arrangements
• Any applicable modern award or enterprise agreement
• How leave is paid and recorded
• Who can approve leave
• What happens if the employee doesn't provide notice or evidence
• Your ability to update workplace policies and related procedures

It's usually best for the contract to say that workplace policies aren't intended to form part of the employment contract, unless you specifically want a policy term to be contractual. This helps you update the policy as your business grows, as long as you still comply with the law and don't remove contractual benefits you've promised.

Also check your payroll and HR systems. A well-written policy won't help much if leave balances are wrong or managers aren't trained to apply the rules.

Before rolling out a new policy, consider these steps:

1. Review your awards and contracts for leave clauses.
2. Update the policy so it matches those documents.
3. Train managers on notice, evidence and privacy requirements.
4. Tell employees where to find the policy.
5. Keep a record that the policy was issued or acknowledged.

If you're updating an old policy, don't assume you can just swap it out quietly. If employees have relied on the old policy or your contracts refer to it in a particular way, get advice on the cleanest rollout.

Key Takeaways

• A sick leave policy isn't legally required for every small business, but it helps you apply the Fair Work rules consistently.
• Full-time employees get 10 days of paid personal/carer's leave each year, and part-time employees accrue it pro rata based on ordinary hours.
• You can ask for evidence where it's reasonable, including for single-day absences, but your approach should be fair and consistent.
• Your policy should explain notice, evidence, payroll, casual employees, privacy, misuse concerns and how the policy works with contracts.
• Suspected misuse should be handled with records, a fair conversation and a proportionate response, not assumptions.
• Templates are a useful starting point, but your policy should be tailored to your awards, contracts, rosters and workplace needs.

If you'd like help with your sick leave policy, employment contracts, award coverage or managing leave issues fairly, you can reach us at 1800 730 617 or team@sprintlaw.com.au for a free, no-obligations chat.