A temporary schedule, known as Schedule X, was inserted into many awards in April 2020. Schedule X allowed eligible employees to take unpaid pandemic leave if they were prevented from working because of COVID-19. In some awards, the Schedule also allowed employees to take twice as much of their accrued annual leave at half pay. Schedule X stopped applying and was deleted from awards between 30 June 2020 and 31 December 2022.

An employee could have taken unpaid pandemic leave if they were prevented from working:

• because they were required to self-isolate by government or medical authorities, or were acting on the advice of a medical practitioner, or
• by measures taken by government or medical authorities in response to the pandemic (for example, an enforceable government direction restricting non-essential businesses).

Taking unpaid pandemic leave

All employees including casuals were entitled to take up to 2 weeks of unpaid pandemic leave. The leave wasn't pro-rated for employees who didn’t work full-time.

Employees didn’t have to:

• accrue the leave, or
• use all their paid leave before accessing unpaid pandemic leave.

Leave had to start before the Schedule ended but could finish after that date.

Unpaid pandemic leave didn’t affect other paid or unpaid leave entitlements. It also counted as service for entitlements under awards and the National Employment Standards.

Notice and evidence

An employee had to let their employer know:

• that they were going to take unpaid pandemic leave
• the reason for taking the leave.

This had to be done as soon as possible, which could have been after the leave started.

An employer could ask an employee to give evidence that demonstrated why the employee took the leave.

An employer couldn't dismiss an employee, or take any other adverse action against an employee, because the employee took unpaid pandemic leave.

Awards previously with Schedule X

The table below outlines the awards that included Schedule X and its end date.