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Department of EducationDepartment of EducationHuman Resource Management

Department of Education

Human ResourcesHR Operations


Human ResourcesAs part of negotiations the Public Sector Union Wages Agreement 2013 now includes the provision for Tasmanian State Service Award Employees to cash out recreation leave and access the new Personal Leave Accumulation Scheme.

Personal Leave Accumulation Scheme (PLAS)

• PLAS will apply to all new fixed term and permanent employees from 1 March 2014.

• A full time employee working 36.75 hours per week will be entitled to 147 hours (20 days) of personal leave each year. This leave accrues on a fortnightly basis at the rate of 5.65 hours. Any leave not used in a leave year accumulates to a maximum accrual of 1911 hours which is equivalent to 260 days.


Human ResourcesPersonal Leave Accumulation Scheme (PLAS), cont…

• A part time employee will accrue personal leave on a fortnightly basis in direct proportion to the number of hours worked compared to a full time employee.

• Existing permanent employees as at 1 March 2014 can elect to transfer from the triennium to PLAS which will take effect for the next full pay period one month after application. The earliest date for transfer to PLAS will be 3 July 2014.



• Once an employee has elected to transfer to PLAS they cannot revert back to the triennium.

• Conversion to PLAS is based on a calculation of the annual entitlement of PLAS multiplied by the number of years full time equivalent service less the amount of personal leave taken during that service for 13 years prior to the date the employee has elected to convert to PLAS or from the commencement date if the employee has less than 13 years service.

• Employees can request a calculation but this must be in writing (via email) from the employee directly.



• Employees who elect to transfer to PLAS must complete the ‘Application to Convert from Triennium Scheme to PLAS’ form on the intranet.

• Further information and the application can be located at: https://www.education.tas.gov.au/documentcentre/Documents/Attendance%20and%20Leave%20non%20teachers.pdf


Human ResourcesCashing out of Recreation Leave

The cashing out of recreation leave has been introduced to assist managers and employees to effectively manage any excess entitlement.

• The amount of recreation leave to be cashed out cannot result in the employees remaining balance being less than 1 year’s entitlement (20 days);

• The amount of leave being cashed out must be 5 days or more;

• An employee may apply to have an amount of their accrued recreation leave cashed out over the life of the PSUWA 2013. It is unusual for the Department to approve cashing out of recreation leave more than once;


Human ResourcesCashing out of Recreation Leave, cont…

• Prior to reaching agreement on the amount of recreation leave an employee can cash out, the Principal/Manager and the employee are required to agree on a Leave Management Plan (LMP);

• The LMP is to specify an amount of leave that must be taken within 6 months of the agreement and is to be no less than the amount of leave that has been agreed to be cashed out.

Further information and the application form can be located at:https://www.education.tas.gov.au/documentcentre/_layouts/DocIdRedir.aspx?ID=TASED-4-2608


Human ResourcesESS – entering leave on behalf of

• This issue was originally raised at a TSAA conference in relation to the impact this has on workloads (School Business Managers and office staff) and what expectations of individual employees are in applying for leave.

• HR undertook a review of all schools and looked specifically the amount of leave that was being entered into ESS by SBMs and senior staff for other staff members.


Human ResourcesESS – entering leave on behalf of, cont…

• From this review it appeared that the ESS functionality was not being used for the purpose that it was intended, that being entering leave on behalf of employees who were on long term sick leave, etc. and therefore unable to apply for leave.

• HR are working with SBMs to encourage all staff to enter their own leave as they take it.

• It is a standard expectation that all employees apply for their own leave unless there are circumstances beyond their control that prevent this occurring.



• Communication has occurred with unions to reaffirm this requirement, for example the Australian Education Union is including an article on this issue in the AEU Reporter.

• If you are experiencing resistance or are looking for ways to ensure staff at your school are entering their own leave, use your SBM cluster groups to discuss different processes on how other schools are managing this issue.



• Involve or seek assistance from your Principal.

• HELP documents are available on ESS to assist new and existing employees.

• For further information on ESS and entering leave and other ESS functions: http://ess.education.tas.gov.au/


Human Resources

HR Operations General [email protected]

Senior HR Consultant (Schools North) – Sharen Wallis

Senior HR Consultant (Schools NW) – Naomie Tubb

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