Sick leave can be taken for part of a day. For example an employee who takes three hours off due to an illness or incapacity would use only three hours of their accumulated sick leave entitlements.
In the main, State awards or agreements (industrial instruments) provide that in any period of less than a full year, an employee accumulates an entitlement of one day sick leave for each completed six weeks of employment. An employee is not entitled to paid sick leave unless they have accumulated an entitlement at the time of taking the leave.
Any unused paid sick leave entitlement is carried over into subsequent years.
However, many industrial instruments state that no employer shall be bound to make payment for more than 13 weeks sick leave in any year. An Industrial Court has determined that "in any one year" means 12 calendar month periods calculated from the employee's date of appointment.
Sick leave does not accumulate during parental leave.
The Industrial Relations Act 1999 (PDF, 1.9MB) provides for certain leave entitlements to transfer from one employer to the new employer when a transfer of a calling (i.e. a craft, manufacture, occupation, trade, undertaking or vocation) takes place. For example, when a business changes hands or is sold and the new employer continues to employ any existing staff, responsibility for sick leave entitlements accumulated with the previous employer transfers to the new employer.
A 'transferred' employee is entitled to all sick leave accumulated for the total period of their employment - including sick leave accumulated with the previous employer. The transfer of entitlement also occurs if an employee is dismissed at the time the business changes hands or within the preceding month and is subsequently employed by the new employer within three months.
Sick leave does not affect public holiday entitlements. If a public holiday falls during a full time or part time employee's absence from work because of illness or incapacity - whether paid or unpaid - they should receive payment for the day as a public holiday.
An employee would be entitled to such payment as a public holiday whether the employee is entitled to be paid sick leave for the balance of the period or not. No reduction is made from the employee's sick leave entitlements for the public holiday.
The exception to the above are where a relevant industrial instrument 
provides otherwise or in circumstances where the contract of employment has been frustrated.
Any period of unpaid leave granted by an employer or any period of unpaid leave on account of illness or injury, of three months or less will not affect when annual leave becomes due to an employee. However, any period in excess of the three months will affect the due date accordingly. An absence of five months, for example, would postpone the date on which leave becomes due by two months (i.e. the period in excess of three months).
A contract may frustrate itself when the illness or incapacity is so serious that it brings about the end of the employer and employee relationship. In other words the employment comes to an end because the employee can no longer perform the duties for which they have been employed.
Industrial relations tribunals have established that illness includes an injury resulting from an accident (e.g. a car accident) or a sporting injury. Employees unable to attend work because of such injuries would be entitled to sick leave.
Absences because of work-related injuries may entitle employees to make claims under WorkCover 
legislation rather than from their accumulated sick leave.
Ordinarily, absence from work to attend medical or dental appointments is not covered by sick leave. Employees are not entitled to sick leave when absent from work to seek treatment if the illness or incapacity did not prevent attendance at work and when the treatment could reasonably be obtained outside working hours.
However, employees may be entitled to sick leave, if they are absent from work to obtain treatment because of:
Similarly, sick leave is available for an absence from work because of an illness or incapacity caused by the after-effects of any treatment.
Employees may use up to ten days per year of their accumulated sick leave to care for their immediate family or members of their household who are ill. An employee wanting to use sick leave in this manner can be required by their employer to produce a doctor's certificate and/or statutory declaration that the person being cared for is ill and requires care by another person. An employee can not take carers leave if another person has taken leave to care for the same person.
View our carer's leave resource page or the special responsibility leave provision in the Family Leave Award State 2003 for more information.
Unless there is specific provision made in an industrial instrument to cover this situation, it is considered that an employee cannot legally claim additional leave in lieu of illness that occurred during annual leave.
Wageline's fact sheet on sick leave:
Workcover Queensland providers of workers’ compensation insurance to Queensland employers.
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© The State of Queensland (Department of Employment and Industrial Relations) 2006
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