Many employers are unsure about whether a rostered day off (RDO) can be swapped for sick leave (paid personal/carer’s leave) because of unexpected illness. 

Consider the following situation. An employee falls ill and is absent for two days, one of which happens to coincide with her RDO. The employee provides a medical certificate verifying her illness for the period of the absence. She then puts in a claim for two days’ paid personal/carer’s leave, stating she will take her RDO at a later date. 

Is she entitled to paid personal/carer’s leave for the day and to take the RDO at a later date (as with annual leave), or does the RDO apply instead of the paid personal/carer’s leave? She is employed under the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Manufacturing Award 2020. 

The employee can only claim paid personal/carer’s leave for a day she is required to attend for work. The RDO is considered a non-working day for the purpose of the Fair Work Act (FWAct) and the applicable modern award. The nature of the RDO is the same as weekends – days on which the employee does not have ordinary hours of work. This means that, in this case, the employee is entitled to one day’s paid personal/carer’s leave, with the RDO being taken as normal. The RDO is not transferred to a later date. 

Public holidays and rostered days off 

The situation is different, however, if a public holiday falls on an employee’s RDO. For example, if the employee’s RDO coincided with the Australia Day public holiday, the applicable award may refer to an arrangement whereby the RDO is taken on another day. 

Generally, a modern award or enterprise agreement that allows for the implementation of an RDO system provides that the RDO cannot fall on a public holiday. It is usually to be taken at some other mutually agreed time. This is because the public holiday provisions of the FW Act and the relevant state or territory public holiday law determine which day or days to be proclaimed a public holiday. 

The applicable modern award will usually refer to the NES with respect to public holidays and provide for an arrangement as to when a day off for the public holiday is to be taken by the employee. 

For example, the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Manufacturing Award 2020 (cl.30.5) provides that where a full-time employee’s ordinary hours of work are structured to include a day off and such day falls on a public holiday (other than a Saturday or a Sunday), the employee is entitled to either:  

  • 7.6 hours of pay at the ordinary time rate 
  • 7.6 hours of extra annual leave
  • a substitute day off on an alternative weekday. 

Reference should be made to the applicable modern award or enterprise agreement to determine what arrangements may be agreed to between the employer and the employee when a public holiday falls on an RDO.