VICTORIAN public servants experiencing family violence will soon have access to specific leave provisions to enable them to remain in their jobs while dealing with their physical and emotional trauma.
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Minister for Women and the Prevention of Family Violence Fiona Richardson announced the new clause on Monday.
“Family violence leave sends a clear message to victims that they’re supported in their workplace and do not have to suffer in silence,” she said.
“Victims need to attend things like medical appointments and legal proceedings. This will give them the support, financial independence and wellbeing that they need during what are extremely difficult and stressful times.”
Negotiations for the new clause will start in September, when public servants being bargaining over their new agreement.
Minister for Industrial Relations Natalie Hutchins said the provisions would keep victims in work while dealing with family violence matters.
“As well as supporting victims, family violence leave provisions also help employers in retaining qualified and valuable staff through difficult circumstances,” she said.
Bendigo Business Council chief executive officer Leah Sertori said the council was yet to take a position on the provision of family violence leave but recognised family violence was a “significant issue for our local community and that as a whole community we need to find effective ways of addressing both the effects of family violence and the root causes that lead to violent behaviour”.
“We will seek to understand more detail about the proposed leave scheme in the next few days. Specifically we will seek to understand how the proposed scheme is different to existing legislation regarding leave entitlements,” she said.
She said council members would be surveyed to find out whether there was support within the private sector to extend the scheme to private enterprise.
In a submission to the Royal Commission into Family Violence, the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission argued that all state employees should have access to domestic violence leave, although it should be categorised as a form of "miscellaneous leave", partly to protect privacy.
It said it would be fair of employers to require some evidence of violence, including medical reports, intervention orders, family law injunctions or statutory declarations, although this should not be too onerous.
