Managing Excessive or Suspicious Sick Leave — An Employer's Guide (Australia)

Paid personal/carer's leave is a National Employment Standard — 10 days a year for full-time employees, accruing progressively. An employee using their accrued leave is exercising a workplace right, and taking adverse action against them for doing so can breach the general protections (Part 3-1 of the Fair Work Act). So the goal isn't to punish leave — it's to manage genuine patterns or unsupported absences fairly.

You're entitled to ask for reasonable evidence (a medical certificate or statutory declaration), including for single days. Set the requirement out in a written policy and apply it to everyone — selective enforcement is a classic adverse-action trap. If evidence isn't provided for a reasonable request, you can decline to pay that period. (See can an employer demand a one-day certificate.)

If there's a genuine pattern (for example, repeated unsupported Mondays), raise it as a wellbeing-and-attendance conversation before any discipline. Ask if something's going on, point to any EAP support, and note the impact on the team. Document it. Often that resolves it — and if it doesn't, you've shown a fair, reasonable process.

Persistent unsupported absences, or an inability to perform the role due to ongoing illness, can be managed — but it must be procedurally fair: clear concerns, a chance to respond, and (for ongoing-illness cases) consideration of medical evidence and reasonable adjustments before any decision. Use the Warning Letter generator to document concerns, and the Employer Dismissal Process Builder if it reaches that point. The AI advisor can walk your specific situation. General information, not legal advice.