Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

MATERNITY LEAVE (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYEES) ACT 1973 - SECT 3

             (1)  In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

"Agency Head" , in relation to an employee, means:

                     (a)  in the case of an employee in an Agency (within the meaning of the Public Service Act 1999 )--the Agency Head within the meaning of that Act; or

                     (b)  in the case of an employee in a prescribed authority--the chief executive officer (however described) of the prescribed authority.

"confinement , in relation to a female employee who has become pregnant, means the birth of a child, or other termination of the pregnancy, that occurs not earlier than twenty weeks before the expected date of birth of the child, and confined" has a corresponding meaning.

"employee" means a person to and in relation to whom this Act applies by virtue of section 5.

"leave officer" , in relation to an employee, means a person who may, whether in his or her own right or as a delegate of another person, grant leave to that employee on account of illness.

"medical practitioner" means a person registered or licenced as a medical practitioner under a law of a State or Territory that provides for the registration or licencing of medical practitioners.

"prescribed authority" means:

                     (a)  a body corporate (other than an incorporated company, society or association) that is incorporated for a public purpose by a law of the Commonwealth or of a Territory (other than the Northern Territory) and is declared by the regulations to be a body corporate in relation to which this Act applies;

                     (b)  an unincorporated body that is established for a public purpose by a law of the Commonwealth or of a Territory (other than the Northern Territory) and is declared by the regulations to be an unincorporated body in relation to which this Act applies; or

                     (c)  a company that:

                              (i)  is incorporated under a law of the Commonwealth or a law in force in a State or Territory;

                             (ii)  is a trading corporation, or a financial corporation, within the meaning of paragraph 51(20) of the Constitution; and

                            (iii)  is declared by the regulations to be a body corporate in relation to which this Act applies.

             (2)  In this Act, a reference to an unauthorized absence, in relation to an employee or in relation to employees included in a class of employees, shall be read as a reference to an absence that is, under the regulations, an unauthorized absence in relation to that employee or to that class of employees.

             (3)  In reckoning, for the purposes of this Act, the number of business days contained in any period relevant to the making of, or dealing with, an application under section 7A by a female employee for permission to resume duty, Saturdays and Sundays and any other days that are public holidays in the place where she would, but for being absent on leave, perform her duties or are public holidays for a class of persons in which she is included shall not be counted as business days, but all other days shall be so counted.