By Ramona Mitussis
TAFE organiser

Colleges sometimes bulk book leave periods for lecturing staff.

The Western Australian TAFE Lecturers’ General Agreement 2019 requires lecturers to apply for leave as per Part 6 – Leave of Absence and Public Holidays.

Annual leave must be taken at a time agreed to between an employer and employee and the employer cannot direct a lecturer to take annual leave at a particular time.

You should not work while on leave, yet many lecturers take leave and then work on preparing for the next semester or term. Why not change the leave pre- booked by your employer and instead work some, or all, of the suggested leave period?

A lecturer can opt to take less leave during suggested leave periods during the year to, for example, deal with workload, accommodate personal leave preferences or to ensure leave to cover other suggested leave periods.

Under no circumstances can a lecturer be placed on leave without pay (LWOP) during a bulk leave period, suggested college leave period or Christmas closedown, without the express permission of the lecturer.

If a lecturer does not have sufficient leave to cover the full leave period suggested by the employer – that lecturer cannot be placed on leave for that full leave period and cannot be required to take LWOP.

When a lecturer does not have sufficient leave to cover the full leave period suggested by the employer, that lecturer must be allowed to attend work, or an alternative place of work, or work from home must be negotiated.

All non-accrued entitlements should be utilised prior to taking annual leave. Professional allowance leave, Easter Tuesday, accrued professional

development time and time off in lieu (TOIL) hours should be taken prior to any annual leave being booked.

Lecturers should check any leave booking made on their behalf to ensure that the leave period, and the type of leave booked, is correct and according to the lecturer’s wishes.

If you have not put in your Accrued Professional Development Time Plan for 2021, do so without delay (see Clause 39 - Accrued Professional Development Time of the Agreement and STERC Policy).

You can accrue up to 37.5 hours of time this way (pro-rata for part-time lecturers) and these accrued hours must be taken by the end of the year.

Make sure you apply to take these accrued hours prior to using annual leave.

Clause 64 – Leave for Emergency Services

For all those members who volunteer in an emergency service, for example, State Emergency Services, St John Ambulance Brigade and Volunteer Fire and Marine and Rescue Brigades, remember you may be granted special leave with pay.

Read Clause 64 – Leave for Emergency Services for details.