Love Our Leave Noticeboard

Leave is very important to work life balance and is a right that has been fought for by workers and negotiated with employers. Domestic violence leave is a critical assistance to victims of abuse and can make it easier to address court, legal, medical appointments, etc. I also would appreciate a flex leave system being introduced in the university to accommodate additional hours worked.

Thu, Aug 27, 2009 1:12 PM

We work so many long hours, far longer than our pay, our time in lieu allows.

I have been lucky to have three different amounts of leave totalling 29 weeks which has allowed me to see the world.

leave - where would we be without it - to rest, rejuvinate, sleep...all so we can continue to work.

I love my leave because I get to spend School Holidays with my children. And my kids love it too! After 10 weeks of school and after school care, they just want to hang out at home for a couple of weeks. It lets us all recharge and get ready for the next term/semester.

I love taking a flexi to spend time with family and to do necessary things. I love being able to take rec leave for holidays and to relax with family. I love being able to take a day of when I am sick. I love the LSL provision for taking a longer break or to assist in retiring earlier on 1/2 pay LSL.

I love me leave as I have family living overseas and therefore need to visit them from time to time. Therefore, I don't appreciate being hassled by management when I have 12 days leave accrued. I always take leave every year and have never accrued more than 4 weeks leave and am sick of management hassling me to take my leave.

After my mother died my father soldiered on alone with only 5hrs of carers time per week allocated to take him shopping or cleaning the house. I was the weekend carer. He had increasing mobility problems from diabetes neuropathy and the no feeling in his legs below the knees. Falls inside and outside the home became a real concern. As his health deteriorated further it was very hard to leave him on the Sunday afternoon for the drive back to Sydney and work on Monday. It would have really helped to have had the time available to have stayed on for a longer weekend with him when he was particularly frail.

The ability to have purchased extra leave would have really helped; as would the availablity of grandparent leave.

I have also put forward the option to for longer bereavement leave. In my particular situtation as the only relative in Australia, I had to deal with all the emotional trauma of the bereavement as well as making all arrangements for the funerals and estate dispersal. This mean't my annual recreation leave was used up dealing with the responsibilities of the resolving the deceased affairs. I certainly didnot feel reinvigorated returning to work after my "annual leave."

My second story is about my abyssinian diabetic cat, who lived until she was 19 1/2 yrs, but required x2 insulin injections a day for the last 6 years. This was a huge commitment on my time and love. In those last months this year,she also needed monthly steroid injections from the vet as she had difficulty walking. I frequently stayed up late at night with her when she was sick, then had to leave for work next day, not knowing if she would still be alive when I got home. She was like one of my family and the huge sense of loss felt when she died recently was the same as anyone would experience for a family bereavement. Family pets leave or the ability to purchase extra leave to have covered special trips to the vet or to have stayed home to care for her as she was dying would have been useful here.

Tue, Aug 18, 2009 11:18 AM
                            

I love having long service leave to take at half pay. This allowed me to spend a lot more time with my children as they were growing up, particularly during school holidays.