What Can Personal Leave Be Used For in Australia?

Paid personal leave in Australia can generally be used in two situations: when an eligible employee cannot work because of their own illness or injury, and when they need to care for or support an immediate family or household member because of illness, injury or an unexpected emergency.

This combined entitlement is formally called paid personal/carer's leave and is often called sick leave. It is not a general-purpose pool for errands, holidays or any personal commitment. The reason for the absence must fit one of the permitted categories, and notice and evidence requirements can apply.

Full-time and part-time employees accrue paid personal/carer's leave. Casual employees generally do not accrue the paid entitlement, although they can have unpaid carer's leave and other workplace rights. An award, enterprise agreement, contract or policy may provide benefits above the National Employment Standards.

This page focuses on permitted uses. For terminology and the shared balance, read Difference Between Sick Leave and Personal Leave. The broader amount and evidence rules are covered in Sick Leave Entitlements in Australia.

This information is general, not individual employment or medical advice. Eligibility depends on the facts and applicable workplace terms. A medical certificate is subject to independent clinical assessment and does not guarantee that an employer will approve or pay leave. Dociva does not provide backdated medical certificates.

Key Points

• Personal leave can be used when an employee is unfit for work because of personal illness or injury.
• The same paid balance can be used as carer's leave for qualifying care or support.
• Carer's leave concerns an immediate family or household member who is ill, injured or affected by an unexpected emergency.
• Mental health conditions and pregnancy-related illness can qualify when they cause incapacity for work.
• A routine appointment does not automatically qualify if the employee is otherwise fit for work.
• Annual leave, moving house and ordinary personal errands are not automatically personal leave uses.
• Employees must notify the employer as soon as practicable and state the expected period away.
• Employers may request reasonable evidence, including for one day or less.
• Casual employees generally do not receive paid personal leave under the National Employment Standards.

Medical Certificates

Using Personal Leave for Your Own Illness or Injury

The Fair Work Ombudsman's paid sick and carer's leave guidance says an employee can take paid sick leave when they cannot work because of personal illness or injury. The focus is capacity to work, not whether the condition has a particular label.

Possible examples include an acute infection, migraine, musculoskeletal injury, recovery after treatment, a flare of a chronic condition or symptoms that make duties unsafe. The employee should accurately explain how the condition affects their actual work.

Being diagnosed with a condition does not automatically mean every future absence qualifies. Conversely, a short-term illness can justify leave even without a complex diagnosis when the employee is genuinely unfit.

Mental Health and Stress-Related Incapacity

Personal illness includes psychological as well as physical health. Anxiety, depression, trauma-related symptoms or severe stress may support personal leave when they make the employee unable to work. “Stress leave” is generally not a separate statutory balance.

The clinical circumstances matter. Ordinary workplace frustration or wanting a break is not the same as illness-related incapacity. A practitioner may assess symptoms, safety, sleep, concentration, duties and appropriate care before deciding whether a certificate can be supported.

The Dociva guide on whether stress leave is the same as sick leave explains the narrow legal and practical distinction.

Pregnancy-Related Illness

Pregnancy is not itself an illness, but an employee may use paid personal leave when a pregnancy-related illness makes them unfit for work. Severe nausea, pain or another complication may affect capacity, subject to assessment and the ordinary leave requirements.

Routine antenatal appointments do not automatically qualify as personal leave if the employee remains fit for work. The employee may need annual leave, flexible hours, unpaid leave or another workplace arrangement for scheduled appointments.

Different rights can apply to unpaid parental leave, special maternity leave and workplace adjustments. Those issues should be checked separately rather than treating every pregnancy-related absence as sick leave.

Using the Balance as Carer's Leave

An eligible employee can use the same paid personal/carer's leave balance to care for or support an immediate family or household member who is sick or injured, or affected by an unexpected emergency. There is not ordinarily a second statutory paid balance labelled “carer's leave”.

Care can include physical assistance, supervision, emotional support, arranging urgent treatment or looking after a child who cannot attend school or care. The need should be genuine and connected to the qualifying event.

Evidence may need to address the caring requirement rather than saying the employee was personally unfit. The carer's leave certificate guide explains privacy-conscious wording and evidence.

Who Is Immediate Family or Household?

Immediate family includes a spouse or former spouse, de facto partner or former de facto partner, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling, including specified relationships through a spouse or de facto partner. Adoptive and step-relations are included.

A household member is a person who lives with the employee. This means a non-relative housemate can fall within the category when they genuinely require care or support for a permitted reason.

Friendship alone does not make someone immediate family, but living together may establish the household connection. The specific relationship guide explains who counts as immediate family or household.

Medical Appointments and Planned Treatment

A scheduled medical appointment is not automatically a personal leave use. Fair Work's notice and medical certificate guidance explains that pre-arranged appointments and elective surgery can be covered when the employee is unable to work because of personal illness or injury.

The condition, procedure, travel, anaesthetic or recovery may cause incapacity. If the person is fit and simply needs time to attend a routine appointment, another leave or flexible-work arrangement may be appropriate.

Read sick leave for medical appointments for examples involving part-days, routine reviews and treatment.

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Surgery and Recovery

Personal leave can generally be used for surgery recovery when illness or injury makes the employee unfit for work. This can include elective surgery where the incapacity test is met; the fact that a procedure was planned does not automatically exclude it.

The relevant period depends on the procedure, recovery, medicines and duties. An office role and a heavy manual role may require different capacity considerations. A later fit-for-work assessment can also be different from the certificate supporting the absence.

The recommended related guide is Does Surgery Count as Sick Leave?.

What Personal Leave Is Not Usually For

• Holidays, leisure travel or extending a weekend.
• Moving house when no illness, injury or qualifying caring event exists.
• Routine personal administration or shopping.
• Attending an event unrelated to health or caring responsibilities.
• Looking after a person who is not immediate family or household unless another entitlement applies.
• Taking time away when the employee is fit for work and no permitted caring reason exists.

Annual leave, unpaid leave, flexible work or another agreement may be requested for these situations. Approval and notice rules differ. Dociva separately addresses the common misconception about personal leave for moving house.

Borderline Situations Need the Real Reason

Some absences contain both a personal commitment and a health issue. An employee may be moving house while recovering from an injury, attending court while caring for an ill parent, or travelling when a sudden infection develops. The correct leave category depends on why the employee cannot work for the particular hours, not the label of the day's main event.

Separate the facts. If illness makes the employee unfit, personal leave may apply to the supported period even though another event was planned. If the employee remains fit and wants time for the non-health event, annual leave or another arrangement is more accurate.

The same principle applies to caring responsibilities. Driving a healthy relative to a routine commitment is different from providing necessary support because illness, injury or an unexpected emergency affects an immediate family or household member.

Accurate categorisation matters for payroll, evidence and trust. Employees should not ask a practitioner to certify a non-medical reason, and employers should assess the actual evidence rather than relying on assumptions about the surrounding event.

How Much Paid Leave Can Be Used?

Full-time employees generally accrue 10 days of paid personal/carer's leave each year, based on ordinary hours. Part-time employees accrue a pro-rata amount. The balance accumulates progressively and unused leave carries over.

An employee can only receive paid leave up to their accrued balance unless an award, agreement, contract or employer permits leave in advance or another arrangement. The planned guides to how personal leave accrues and when personal leave is paid explain those calculations.

Casual employees generally have no paid balance. They may take 2 days unpaid carer's leave per qualifying occasion but do not have a National Employment Standards entitlement to unpaid sick leave for their own illness.

Notice and Evidence

Employees must tell the employer about personal or carer's leave as soon as practicable, which can be after the leave begins when earlier notice was not possible. They should say how long they expect to be away.

An employer can request evidence, including for one day or less. A medical certificate and statutory declaration are examples, and an award or registered agreement may specify requirements. The evidence should convince a reasonable person that the leave was genuinely taken for a permitted reason.

The current Fair Work sick and carer's leave fact sheet brings together the minimum entitlement, accrual and evidence principles.

Clinical Assessment and Urgent Care

A medical certificate is a clinical document, not an automatic workplace form. The practitioner may ask about symptoms, dates, duties, caring responsibilities and whether in-person care is needed. The period must be clinically supportable; Dociva does not backdate certificates.

The Medical Board of Australia's telehealth guidance requires the same safe professional standard expected in other care. A remote request may be declined or redirected.

Call 000 for severe breathing difficulty, chest pain, signs of stroke, major injury, heavy bleeding, reduced consciousness or another emergency. Leave paperwork should never delay urgent treatment.

More of Our Services

Using Dociva

Dociva currently accepts online requests for sick-leave, carer's leave, study and multi-day medical certificates. An Australian registered medical practitioner independently reviews the stated reason, dates and available clinical information.

Submitting a request does not guarantee a certificate, personal leave eligibility, a paid balance or employer approval. Dociva does not provide backdated certificate issue dates, and the practitioner may request more information, decline unsupported periods or recommend in-person care.

For current incapacity, review the medical certificate application. For a caring responsibility, see carer's leave certificate information. Broader telehealth consultations are available for other clinical needs.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)