Government initiatives on work, family and lifestyle
The Queensland government recognises the complex interplay between work and personal lives and the difficulties associated in balancing them. The government is involved in a number of initiatives aimed at helping Queenslanders balance their work, family and lifestyle commitments:
Work and Family Unit
Work and Family Project - pilot program
Parental leave research
Industrial relations legislation
Work and Family Unit
The Work and Family Unit was established within the then Department of Industrial Relations in July 2001. Its role is to provide information and education on work and family issues to the private and public sectors and undertake research and policy development in this area. To contact the Work and Family Unit, please call (07) 3234 1810 or e-mail work-family@dir.qld.gov.au.
Work and Family Project – pilot program
The Work and Family Project – pilot program is a research project run by the Work and Family Unit and The University of Queensland. Part of the project involved the development of a self-assessment measure to evaluate the work-life balance policies and practices of workplaces. Between 2002 and 2004 ten Queensland organisations participated in the project and around 9,600 employees in both rural and urban areas in Queensland received the measure.
In addition, the study examined organisational factors that might facilitate or impede the use of ‘work-life balance’ policies via case study research. In each organisation, a focus group with employees and a semi-structured interview with a representative of management were conducted. This information assisted with the development of the measure and was used to produce a case study analysis report for each organisation and an overall report.
Currently the measure is being developed as a downloadable tool, which means that organisations will be able to administer the measure themselves. It is anticipated that the measure will be available to organisations early this year. For more information please contact the Work and Family Unit on (07) 3234 1810 or e-mail work-family@dir.qld.gov.au.
Parental leave research
In 2004 the department joined as an industry partner in a three-year research project, - Parental leave in Australia: access, utilisation and efficacy; which is led by the University of Queensland and the University of Sydney.
The primary aims of the project are to inform policy development and theoretical debate on the issues of parental leave by filling gaps in knowledge about usage, the preferences of women and men combining work and family responsibilities, and the shaping of options and choices in workplace and household contexts.
The research project is being conducted over a three year period and includes three levels of investigation:
- Survey of parents of children born 12-18 months prior to the survey to provide information on access to and utilisation of parental leave, as well as information on preferences, choices and unmet needs relating to work and family balance
- Workplace case studies to collect information on the way workplaces respond to the needs of mothers and fathers of young children, and employees’ return to work experiences following parental leave, including acceptance and integration in the workplace
- Interviews with individuals from the initial survey to understand more fully influences such as the organisation of domestic labour and access to other types of family support on the choices people make in relation to combining paid work and family responsibilities
The project is funded through an Australian Research Council (ARC) linkage grant and support of the participating industry partners. Other organisations that have agreed to join the project as industry partners are the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, New South Wales Office of Industrial Relations, New South Wales Office for Women and the Women’s Electoral Lobby.
The research project (non-Queensland Government link) will be finalised in 2007, at which time a final report will be produced.
Industrial Relations legislation
In 1999, Queensland led the country in becoming the first jurisdiction to provide unpaid maternity leave for casual employees when it was introduced for long-term casual employees with at least two years service.
In 2001, the government took this a step further by reducing the qualifying period to 12 months service and expanding the entitlement to provide unpaid parental leave.
In 2005, the Industrial Relations Act 1999 (PDF, 1.9 MB) was amended to include:
- a requirement that the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission ensure that awards take account of employees’ family responsibilities and, wherever possible, include facilitative provisions to allow agreement to be reached on work and family responsibilities
- "balancing work and family responsibilities" as an industrial matter in Schedule 1 of the Act
- that the entitlement to bereavement leave extends to circumstances where an employee needs to attend to matters relating to the death of a person overseas
- an entitlement for employees to access a reasonable amount of unpaid bereavement leave to be taken immediately before or after paid bereavement leave to facilitate necessary travel both within and outside Australia
- five days’ unpaid cultural leave per year if they are required by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander tradition to attend Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander ceremonies. The leave should be subject to the employer’s agreement but that agreement may not be unreasonably withheld
Find out what other legislation covers industrial relations in Queensland.
Following the decision by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission in the Family Provisions test case (non-Queensland Government link) on 8 August 2005, the Queensland Government amended the Industrial Relations Act 1999 to reflect the decision. The Queensland government is the first state government to legislate the test case decision.
The Industrial Relations Act 1999 was amended to provide:
a. employees with a 'right to request' his/her employer to:
- increase simultaneous unpaid parental leave to 8 weeks;
- extend unpaid parental leave from 52 to 104 weeks; and
- permit an employee to return from parental leave on a part-time basis until the child reaches school age.
b. a provision which requires that an employer shall take ‘reasonable steps’ to inform and discuss with an employee, whilst on parental leave, significant changes in the workplace that are likely to have a significant effect on the status or responsibility level of the position the employee held before taking leave.
c. a new carer’s leave provision in accordance with the conciliated agreement between the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and employer organisations as part of the Family Provisions test case. The new provision improves the existing provision under the Industrial Relations Act 1999 (PDF, 1.9 MB). The major improvements are:
- Increasing the cap on sick leave that can used for the purposes of caring for members of their immediate family or household who are ill from 5 to 10 days;
- Broadening the circumstances under which carer’s leave can be taken to include 'unexpected emergencies';
- Further, where an employee has exhausted all paid personal leave entitlements, they are entitled to take up to two additional days of unpaid leave per occasion to care for members of their immediate family or household.
- A new right to 2 days unpaid carer’s leave for short-term casuals to be unavailable to attend work or to leave work to care for members of their immediate family or household, when ill, for an unexpected emergency, or the birth of a child.
d. Two days unpaid bereavement leave for short-term casuals:
- on the death of a member of the person’s immediate family or household; and
- the extra time reasonably required by the employee to travel to and from the funeral or other ceremony for the death.
The provisions under the Industrial Relations Act 1999 apply to employees on state awards, state agreements and award-free employees working in Queensland .
Last updated 22 July 2008