Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

The government will not be supporting this amendment on the grounds that it would create confusion for employers. An employee who has given notice of their period of flexible unpaid leave 10 weeks in advance would then be able to change their period of flexible unpaid leave with four weeks notice. The 10-week notice requirement for flexible unpaid leave, amendment (2), imposes an onerous procedural requirement on employees without necessarily giving employers any greater certainty about the exact leave that will ultimately be taken. That would lock employees into taking the flexible unpaid leave for which notice has been given by removing the ability of an employer to agree to a further change request, even if they would have been willing to accommodate the request. It would also remove an employee's ability to give the second notice of flexible unpaid leave after the leave has started if that is the soonest notice can be given—for example, in the case of an unexpected medical emergency.

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