Teachers take 7 days paid marriage leave

TEACHERS are entitled to take an extra seven days paid leave to get married under a decades-old deal.

Unions have defended the arrangement for staff who get married during term because they say teachers “lack the flexibility” other workers enjoy and therefore need the extra time to prepare for their big day.

The seven days — including Saturday and Sunday — were allowed under a 1974 Department of Finance circular and negotiated under the 1980 pay agreement. It was updated over the years to include an increase in days and civil marriages.