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Annual leave and requests for leave during term time

Annual leave and requests for leave during term time

The Holidays Act 2003 entitles employees to annual holidays.

Due to the ways schools work, the practices, customs, and agreements in the education sector differ from other sectors.

Certain roles also have additional rules around annual leave.

Teachers

Teachers take their annual leave over the school holidays.

This means they cannot take their annual leave while schools are open for instruction during the term.

Unless they take one of the other leave types provided for in their applicable Collective Agreement that can be taken during term time (such as study leave, refreshment leave or sick leave), a teacher applying for time off during the term will need to request leave without pay.

You cannot automatically decline applications for leave without pay during the term.

Therefore, applications for leave without pay need to be considered:

  • In good faith, and

  • Based on the particular circumstances of the employee, and

  • In the context of the operational needs of the school, and  

  • In accordance with school policy.

Annualised support staff and teacher aides

If a term-time employee has their pay annualised, their annual leave is factored into their annualisation agreement.

This generally means, like teachers, they cannot take annual leave during the term time.

In accordance with clause 6.3.1 of the Support Staff in Schools' Collective Agreementopen_in_new, annual leave is to be taken during the school holidays.

However, an employee and their employer can mutually agree to an employee taking paid annual leave during the year.

This either needs to be factored into the annualisation agreement from the start, or their annualisation agreement will need to be revisited when the leave is approved.

Note: If the employee takes consecutive leave without pay of more than ten working days during the year, their annualisation agreement ceases.

You can find further details in EdPay’s article on annualisationopen_in_new.

Non-annualised support staff and teacher aides

Term-time only support staff and teacher aides who have not entered into an annualisation agreement are paid their annual leave entitlement in a lump sum at the end of the school year (usually in pay period 19).

These employees cannot carry annual leave entitlements into the next year.

If an employee and their employer mutually agree to an employee taking paid annual leave during the year, it is deducted from their annual leave balance before their final payment for the year is calculated (provided the leave is loaded into EdPay).

Other employees who work less than 52 weeks a year

Employees (not teachers, teacher aides or support staff) who work less than 52 weeks of the year are paid their annual leave entitlement in a lump sum at the end of the school year (usually in pay period 19).

These employees cannot carry annual leave entitlements into the next year.

If an employee and their employer mutually agree to an employee taking paid annual leave during the year, it is deducted from their annual leave balance before their final payment for the year is calculated (provided the leave is loaded into EdPay).

Employees (other than teachers) who work 52 weeks a year

52-week employees accrue an annual leave entitlement each fortnight.

When they book leave, the days are deducted from their leave balance.

Any remaining leave balance rolls over into the next year.

This leave should be taken outside the school terms unless the employee and employer mutually agree otherwise.

Questions a principal could ask

  • When should my employees take annual leave?

  • What is the difference between an annualised and non-annualised support staff or teacher aide when it comes to annual leave?

  • Can I automatically decline requests for leave without pay during the year?

Templates, resources, and references

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Collective Agreements
Education Payroll