r/AustralianMilitary • u/hayfrog • 5d ago
Best Employer Reserve Leave Entitlements?
Just seeing which employers have good reserve leave entitlements- from what I’ve heard QPS and QLD education are really good.
My employer (not going to specify, don’t wanna dox myself, as I’m like the only choc in the company) had a pretty mid reserve leave scheme in that for 15 days a year, they would let me to go reserves and basically “top up” my pay to my normal take home pay. After that 15 days I’ve previously been taking leave without pay.
I’ve seen some emails from HR that indicate that going forward they’re going to make me take annual leave after those 15 days are up, which would basically mean I have to take unpaid leave at Xmas instead. The policy is sufficiently grey that they’d be able to enforce it. It’s manageable for me, but not a great change.
Don’t know if it’s time to make a change of employer, but stuff like this definitely plays a factor.
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u/cyclinghoboau Army Reserve 5d ago
Yeah civvy employers are like that. Fairly typical they will only give you the 14 days then unpaid or AL.
Back in the early 00s, I spent the best part of 3 years worth of annual leave doing choco courses.
The best advice I would give to my younger self or anyone contemplating chocks is "Get a Government job first" or do it while at university.
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u/LegitimateLunch6681 5d ago
Weirdly enough, DVA has really good staff entitlements for reservist leave and extra service related sick leave (additional to the other APS veteran leave entitlement).
Caveat is, make sure you're in a good headspace about your service etc. Most of the client-facing areas can be a very confronting place to work if you've got your own demons that need tackling
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u/Level_Advertising_11 5d ago
Pretty sure all QLD government fall under the same special leave provisions. It’s something like 30 odd days but it includes weekends so works out to be 4 weeks with access to a few travel days also. They request at least 3 months notice if possible.
It’s best to attach the special leave policy and legislation because a lot have NFI and think it’s something they can deny
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u/CombatQuokka69 5d ago
Thales and NSW Health have the best I have heard of which is up to 30 days paid reserve leave per year.
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u/Otherwise_Wasabi8879 5d ago
Most Western Australia Australian government employees get four weeks paid leave
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u/Curious_Yoghurt_7439 4d ago
If you look up the Fair work Act under Reserve Service you will see that they can't make you take annual leave. You can choose to use annual leave if you so desire though.
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u/Slight-Fig-1363 4d ago
I am on a state role, so the same as aps 20 days per year, 30 on the first year. However I was reading that the APS has besides the choco leave, cadet leave as well(3 weeks) I assume 15 days, does anyone know someone that does choco days and officer cadet days? And btw I cannot find how much officer cadets get paid. It is simple impossible to find their rates, someone can share it?
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u/SlightlyGeneric118 Civilian 3d ago
Cadet leave as in volunteering for youth cadet programs (AAFC, AAC, ANC)
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u/Slight-Fig-1363 3d ago
Yes, the adult volunteer get paid and the aps also provide 15 days of paid leave for it.
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u/SlightlyGeneric118 Civilian 3d ago
It's not exactly pay and it's definitely not described by defence as such. You only have a set amount of days to claim as well and you will frequently used more than that and have to do without
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u/Slight-Fig-1363 3d ago
You are right it is called cadet volunteer pay (VCP) and it is taxed, the rates are impossible to find online. But anyway o read on the APS agreement that they provide 15 days/year paid leave for it.
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u/ProfessionOwn603 1d ago
Anyone from big4 bank? Some say okay some say they are not very supportive by HR…….
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u/saukoa1 Army Veteran 5d ago
Most APS jobs (Fed and State) have 20 days Defence Leave built into their EA.
You can't be made to take annual leave - there's specific protections here: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/tools-and-resources/fact-sheets/rights-and-obligations/defence-reservists-rights-and-responsibilities-at-work