Answer:
No, not necessarily. But you cannot refuse to provide an employee’s annual leave for this purpose.
Employers may negotiate when an employee can take leave depending on the business’s needs, but employers must not unreasonably refuse annual leave where sufficient leave has been accrued. For example if your employee has accrued 5 days leave and they want to use 2 days leave for a course they have, you cannot unreasonably refuse the request.
The company cannot forfeit annual leave but you can refuse leave requests if you have reasonable business reasons, for example, it is the busiest day of the year for your shop and you need all staff to be present. Depending on the Award, enterprise agreement or the contract you have with an employee, you may be required to provide study leave but it is not an entitlement that is set out in the National Employment Standards.
