A new reproductive health leave clause providing five days non-cumulative paid leave for full-time employees, pro-rata for part-time employees will be included in the proposed new Victorian Public Service Agreement 2024.

Workers can use the leave when they are unable to work because of a reproductive health reason, or when they are receiving treatment for endometriosis or poly cystic ovary syndrome, menopause or menstruation, complications associated with a pregnancy, or if they are receiving fertility treatment.

Thousands of state government workers in child protection, school student support, public housing, police forensic and fingerprints, our courts' personnel and corrections staff, public land fire fighters, primary industry scientists, fishery officers, as well as family violence prevention employees, are amongst dozens of highly feminised workforce classifications to benefit from a raft of new and extended entitlements focused on achieving gender equity and reducing the pay gap across Government.

These include:

• extending paid leave entitlements to recognise employee’s health around reproductive rights, menstruation, and menopause,
• extending superannuation payments on parental leave to 104 weeks
• allowing for shift workers on Primary Caregiver or Additional Secondary Caregiver Parental Leave to continue to receive shift penalties they would have received had they not been on leave meaning payment calculations to the primary carer reflect actual pay,
• removing the eligibility service period to access paid Parental Leave,
  
• explore alternative ways of working through feasibility trials,
• improved processes to support flexible and hybrid work in the public service with increased requirements for Employers to give genuine consideration to flexible work requests made by any employee and provide reasons if requests cannot be approved.
• an agreed mechanism to compensate additional unpaid hours for Grade 5 and above (or equivalent) employees, 
• new fixed term and casual conversion arrangements, as well as
• extending top of grade performance payments.

5 out of every 6 state government workers under the deal directly deliver vital services to Victorians and 3 out of every 5 of these workers are women.