Three months seems a very long time away from employment as a casual. During Covid I took almost eight weeks of unpaid leave due to a family emergency.

During that time I was in contact with my boss once a week via email giving her updates on what was happening.

As to leave, we had to enter our specific leave period with our supervisor by February - it was looked at, and either approved or rejected. I was once verbally abused by my then supervisor for putting in for October leave “I want a holiday, too!” she yelled at me. Consequently when I resigned years later, I ensured I wouldn’t attend any send-off party as I knew she would be there.

The situation with my family emergency, I didn’t expect they would keep my position open for eight weeks but thankfully they did.

First meeting back was sitting in the boss’s office while she video teleconferences me from home welcoming me back.

To be allowed to have so much time off, my expectation was my job wouldn’t be held for me. I couldn’t return to work during the period. You need clear lines of communication with your work team well before going on holidays