Here’s how you can double your annual leave under proposed new rules

Aussie workers could soon be entitled to double their half-pay annual holiday under a new proposal backed by unions and peak organisations.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has released the scheme that will introduce the right to greater leave flexibility in industrial rates.

While the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and the Australian Industry Group support the plan in theory, finer details need to be ironed out before they are tabled.

ACCI said employers should also reserve the right to refuse an employee’s request to double their leave as it could have ‘enormous consequences’.

The Australian industry group agreed that adding the new rule should only be granted if agreed by both employer and employee.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said the new rule would “allow workers to have more flexibility to take longer leave without any penalty to the employer”.

“We expect this request to be driven by the needs of the worker and to be properly considered by the employer,” McManus said. Australian Financial Review.

“As with all leave, it must be properly recorded and it must be clear to the worker how this will affect any future leave and super contributions.”

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said half-pay leave was a “modest step in the right direction” but warned employers needed to take note.

“Importantly, it can only be used if an individual employer and employee agree to it,” he said.

Willox added that doubling leave could exacerbate employers’ struggle to find a balance between filling a shift schedule and providing leave.

ACCI director of workplace relations Jess Tinsley said the proposal could also put more stress on employers during peak seasons or when they are understaffed.

Business groups back push for more flexible leave arrangements on condition employers reserve right to refuse double leave

Ms McManus agreed that half-pay leave should be by agreement between employer and employee, but it should only be refused on “reasonable business grounds”.

“Of course we would say it’s fair,” she said, according to Nine. “But not just because you couldn’t be bothered.”

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has already touched on the proposal at a hearing on 3 April in the upcoming Modern Awards Review.

The FWC’s vice-president, Bernadette O’Neill, said she ‘identified that there may be some consensus around … annual leave to be taken at half pay’.

However, the matter was not discussed as it was put back until it can receive its own hearing at a later date.

Stakeholders on the half-pay leave issue and a myriad of others being monitored in the commission’s review have until April 26 to submit their views.

The FWC will issue its final report sometime around June 28.