On 13 August 2020 the High Court handed down their decision in the appeal of the Full Federal Court’s decision in the Mondelez case. The previous decision stated that based on the National Employment Standards all employees, regardless of whether they were part time or full time employees, were entitled to 10 days personal leave each year.

The High Court has now overturned the decision in the case Mondelez Australia Pty Ltd v AMWU & Ors [2020] HCA 29. The High Court established that the 10 days of personal leave referred to in the National Employment Standards, is to be known as 10 ‘notional days’ of leave. The duration of a ‘day’ is to be determined by one-tenth of the hours of the equivalent of an employee’s ordinary hours of work in a two-week (fortnightly) period. Alternatively it is 1/26 of the employee’s ordinary hours of work in a year.

For example, if a full time employee works the standard 38 hour week (7.6 hours x 5 days) and therefore 76 hours in a fortnight, then the notional day will be 7.6 hours.

If a part time employee works 10 hours a week and therefore 20 hours a fortnight, the notional day will be a 2 hour day, as opposed to 7.6 hours. Meaning over the course of the year the part time employee would be entitled to 10 x 2-hour notional days.

In effect, each notional day is calculated on a pro rata basis depending on how many hours the employee works.
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