QTAD Q&A

Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 130 No 4, 20 June 2025, page no 28.

I need to leave early for a medical appointment. Is there a minimum amount of sick leave I have to take? 
The department’s custom and practice is that the minimum period of deduction is 15 minutes, and sick leave can be processed in 15-minute increments in excess of this minimum. For example, if you need to leave at 2pm and school finishes at 2:50pm, you will need to access 1 hour of sick leave.  You should only be debited sick leave for the period of rostered duty time that you are absent (i.e. sick leave should not be debited for the unpaid meal break). 

Is it possible to use any of my sick leave to care for a family member?
You can use sick leave accrued since 1 July 1995 to care for members of your immediate family or members of your household who are ill. Like sick leave, carer’s leave is an entitlement. The department’s Employee Leave Entitlements Guideline indicates that if an employee takes carer’s leave to care for or support a person who is ill or injured for more than three consecutive days, the employee must provide a doctor’s certificate or statutory declaration evidencing that the person has an illness or injury requiring care or support by another person.

I am sharing caring responsibilities of my elderly mother with my siblings. Is it possible to access sick leave one day per week? 
As above, this is possible. You need to provide supporting medical evidence if the period extends beyond three days. 

I have very little sick leave available, and I have to undergo emergency surgery. What other leave options are available to me? 
Paid leave that is reasonably required either for an emergency situation or on compassionate grounds may be granted. The principal has the authority to approve up to five days of special leave, per reason, per year. If eligible, you could access long servoce leave (LSL) in lieu of sick leave. If you require an extended period of time off and you have exhausted your entitlement to paid sick leave, you may be entitled to the payment of an income protection benefit from QSuper. Varying waiting periods apply depending on the type of plan you hold. 

Sick and carer’s leave during paid leave (LSL and paid parental leave)
Sick and carer’s leave can be accessed during LSL and paid parental leave, if: 

• the period of incapacity is more than three working days 
• there is sufficient evidence of the illness to satisfy a reasonable person. 
   

If you are taking LSL or paid parental leave at half pay, the sick leave granted during the leave period will also be at half pay (deducted at two and a half hours each day).