It’s been barely a couple of months since the government introduced regulations setting out rules for how paid family and domestic violence leave should be dealt with in payslips (as reported in our previous article).
The government now has changed its position on this and has introduced new regulations to set out employers’ obligations in this area
What is changing?
The previous regulations stated that employers could record paid family and domestic violence leave on a payslip as “miscellaneous” or “other” leave, to avoid the prohibition in law on mentioning paid family and domestic violence leave in a payslip.
On reflection the government felt that this risked perpetrators of family and domestic violence leave (who might have access to a victim-survivor’s payslips) inferring that “miscellaneous” or “other” leave was connected in some way to the employee taking leave to deal with family or domestic violence.
The new regulations therefore provide that paid family and domestic violence leave must be reported on a pay slip as ordinary time worked, overtime or an allowance, and must not be reported as a type of leave such as “miscellaneous leave” or “other leave”. The only exception to this prohibition is where an employee has requested paid family and domestic violence leave to be recorded as a period of leave.
The regulations also provide a four-month grace period, commencing from 4 February 2023, for employers to update their payroll systems for these further changes. During this grace period, employers will not be penalised if they report a period of paid family and domestic violence leave on a pay slip as a period of “other” or “miscellaneous” leave.
If you require any further guidance on the paid family and domestic violence leave changes, please contact us.