End of Year Closure

Claim

18. Provision of paid leave between Christmas and New Year without staff having to access annual leave.

Claim Details

• 3 days as a leave entitlement in EA to be used the shut down period between 25/12 and 31/12. 

Rationale

• ACU, CQU, GU, UniSQ, USC have this in in their Enterprise Agreements. QUT has it in policy. SydU have 4 days. UTAS and ANU have 3 days. UMelb has 1 day. 

• This leave was consistently given to staff for a very long time, it was taken away in post-COVID budget squeeze and staff accepted as a goodwill gesture.

• There is inconsistency in implementation. EA states that staff have the option to work the 3 days but HR’s wording when communicating the shut down period options to staff is that staff are expected to use annual leave during this period.

Presented on 23/03/26

Management Response

• This claim was presented to management during the bargaining meeting on 25/03. Management said they want to also take account of Together’s claim for 5 weeks annual leave and overall cost of new EA before agreeing.

• Together have tabled all of their claims. Management have not responded any further.