Family & Domestic Violence Leave 2026: 10 Days Paid for All Employees

Since 1 February 2023 (1 August 2023 for small businesses with fewer than 15 employees), all Australian employees are entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence (FDV) leave per year. This entitlement was introduced by the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 and applies universally — full-time, part-time, and casual employees all receive the same 10-day entitlement. The leave is available in full at the start of each 12-month period from the employee's start date and does not accumulate from year to year.

If you do not use your 10 days in one period, they reset — they don't carry over. For full-time and part-time employees, the leave is paid at the employee's full rate of pay (including incentive payments, bonuses, loadings, monetary allowances, overtime, and penalty rates — not just the base rate).

For casual employees, FDV leave is paid at the rate the casual would have earned had they worked during the leave period, based on their roster or regular pattern of work.

Every employee in Australia covered by the national workplace relations system is entitled to paid FDV leave. This includes full-time employees, part-time employees, and casual employees. There is no minimum service period — the entitlement is available from the first day of employment.

There's no minimum hours threshold — even a casual employee working a few hours per week is entitled to 10 days. The entitlement applies regardless of the size of the employer.

While small businesses (fewer than 15 employees) had a delayed start date of 1 August 2023, the entitlement now applies to all employers. Employees of state government organisations in some states may be covered by state legislation rather than the Fair Work Act, but equivalent or more generous provisions generally apply. If you're unsure whether you're covered by the national system, contact the Fair Work Ombudsman. The 10-day entitlement is the same for all employees regardless of their employment type — a casual employee gets 10 days on the same basis as a full-time employee.

FDV leave can be used for any purpose related to the employee experiencing family and domestic violence. Family and domestic violence means violent, threatening, or other abusive behaviour by an employee's close relative, a current or former intimate partner, or a member of the employee's household that seeks to coerce or control the employee and causes them harm or fear. The leave can be used for a wide range of purposes including attending court hearings, accessing police services, attending counselling or support services, attending medical appointments related to the violence, relocating to safe accommodation, making arrangements for the safety of the employee or a close relative (including children), attending legal appointments (family law, intervention orders), and any other activities related to the impact of the violence.

The leave doesn't need to be taken in full days — employees can take it in part-days or single hours if that's what they need. The flexibility in how the leave can be used reflects the reality that dealing with family violence often involves multiple short appointments and activities spread across weeks or months.

The Fair Work Act imposes strict confidentiality obligations on employers regarding FDV leave. Employers must take steps to ensure that information about an employee's FDV leave is kept confidential. This means limiting access to the information to only those people who genuinely need to know, such as the direct manager processing the leave and payroll staff.

The short answer? The information must not be disclosed to other employees, clients, or third parties without the employee's consent, except where required by law. Breaching the confidentiality provisions is a civil penalty provision carrying significant fines.

Employers should establish internal procedures for handling FDV leave requests that minimise the number of people involved and protect the employee's privacy. The confidentiality obligation extends to all records related to FDV leave — leave applications, supporting documentation, payroll records, and any correspondence. Employers should consider using generic leave codes in shared systems to avoid inadvertently revealing that an employee has taken FDV leave.

To protect employee privacy, paid FDV leave must not be itemised or identifiable on the employee's payslip. The Fair Work Regulations specifically exclude FDV leave from the types of leave that must be shown on pay slips. In plain terms, employers can't include a line item for 'family and domestic violence leave' or any similar label on the payslip.

If the employer's payroll system automatically adds leave categories to payslips, the employer must configure the system to suppress FDV leave or include it under a non-identifiable category. The employee's pay during FDV leave should appear as normal pay — indistinguishable from regular working days.

This protection exists because payslips may be accessible to an abusive partner (particularly if they've financial control), and identifying the leave on the payslip could escalate the violence or alert the perpetrator that the employee is taking steps to address the situation. If you notice that your FDV leave is visible on your payslip, raise this with your employer's payroll or HR department immediately, as they may be in breach of the regulations. Use our Leave Entitlements Calculator to check all your leave balances, and our Take Home Pay Calculator to understand your pay during leave periods.