Q: A staff member is transferring from one business to another within our group of companies. She will keep her original commencement of service date. We want her to transfer across with her current annual, sick and long service leave balances rather than pay them out.

Given that we need to terminate her from employment in business A and commence her with business B, are we obliged to pay out her leave balances as part of this move? Are there any other employment/payroll issues to consider as part of this transfer?

A: No, you do not have to pay these leave balances out given that the employee is transferring to an associated entity. The employee’s entitlements can simply be moved to business B. Inform the employee that her employing entity will be business B but that, in essence, everything else remains the same.

Please note: The answer is correct at the time of publishing. Be aware that laws may change over time. Refer to Transfer of employment for current advice.