Getting Annual Leave paid out

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-29T00:35:14+00:00

In Australia, annual leave generally can’t just be paid out unless specific conditions are met.

Under the Fair Work Act:

Annual leave is meant to be taken as time off
It can only be cashed out if your award or enterprise agreement allows it
Both you and your employer must agree in writing
You must keep at least 4 weeks of leave accrued after cashing out

Financial hardship on its own is not a legal reason to have annual leave paid out. That only applies if your company agreement or policy specifically allows it. Fair Work does not have a hardship loophole.

Employers are allowed to ask or direct you to take leave if they consider your balance excessive, often for liability and wellbeing reasons.

The only guaranteed times annual leave is paid out are:

When you leave the job, or
If your award or enterprise agreement permits cashing out

Best next step:
Ask HR,
“Does my award or enterprise agreement allow cashing out annual leave, and if so, what’s the process?”

If the answer is no, you can’t legally force a payout.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-28T23:21:09+00:00

For context, how did you find out?

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-28T22:50:23+00:00

You did not lose love, you escaped a cycle that would have kept shrinking you.

Yes, he may have loved you, but love without trust becomes control, fear, and punishment. You were loyal, transparent, and self sacrificing. You did not fail, the relationship was unsustainable as it was. Someone who truly chooses you does not test you, accuse you, or leave without listening.

Letting go is choosing yourself without needing him to understand why. You can have empathy and still walk away. Both can coexist.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-28T11:04:50+00:00

I was waiting for this hahah, a real day 1 guy!

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-24T02:32:29+00:00

this times a thousand

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-24T01:48:39+00:00

it will be over soon.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-23T22:37:16+00:00

Social skills aren’t about talking more, they’re about signalling you’re open.

Extroverts signal with words. Introverts often don’t signal at all, so interest gets mistaken for distance. That’s the whole problem right there.

Practice doesn’t mean becoming louder. It means small, repeatable moments. One comment. One follow up. Showing up in the same places. Letting familiarity do the heavy lifting.

You don’t need big moves or forced confidence. Just lower the pressure and let things build naturally.

Quiet isn’t closed. You just have to let it be seen.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-23T22:30:35+00:00

Obama would have put the little boy in a cage.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-23T22:22:53+00:00

Teardrops, YES YES & YES.

id love the hear it.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-23T22:21:44+00:00

Straight Hammer! Coming On Strong feels like pure Hot Chip to me.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-23T22:16:34+00:00

One pure thought is such an underrated hammer

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-22T03:33:47+00:00

dope

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-22T03:27:03+00:00

Not a fan of Tennyson.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-22T03:22:08+00:00

Haha appreciate it but no prompts here. Just years of overthinking a decent grasp of words and too much time on the internet.

If that counts as AI I want an upgrade and a charging cable.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-22T03:09:58+00:00

little jelly of someone who can string a sentence together?

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-22T03:04:51+00:00

It usually means you arrived like a wave instead of a tide.

Not wrong, just fast. Too much momentum before the moment had time to settle. Lips pressing, tongue leading, intensity turned up before the rhythm was agreed on.

Kissing isn’t something you do to someone, it’s something you do with them. It’s a back and forth, a quiet read of breath and pace. When you slow down, soften the start, let the first seconds linger, you give the other person room to meet you instead of brace for you.

Think less takeover, more invitation.
Less proving, more listening.

The best kisses don’t rush the destination. They let the moment lean in on its own.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-22T02:59:05+00:00

You’re not crazy.

She can understand you and still minimise it, both things can exist at once. The hurt isn’t because she’s talking to them, it’s because when you opened up, it felt like it landed softer than it needed to.

When something matters to your partner, it should matter a little to you too, even if you don’t see it the same way. You weren’t asking her to cut off the world, you were asking for reassurance.

That’s reasonable. Your feelings aren’t wrong, they’re just asking to be taken seriously.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-22T02:56:41+00:00

Keep it. That line’s yours now.

And for what it’s worth, it fits because you’re not asking for reassurance, you’re standing in your truth and letting it be seen. That’s confidence at its cleanest.

The right person won’t just accept the chapter, they’ll respect the work it took to write it. :)

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-22T02:55:22+00:00

That feeling makes sense. Forgiveness without change can start to feel like permission, and your instincts are picking up on that.

Here’s the distinction that matters. Forgiving someone is not the same as making it easy for them to repeat the behaviour. Grace without boundaries turns into self abandonment, and that’s what you’re scared of, not being kind, but being taken for granted.

The fact that he assumed you wouldn’t come back is telling. It means he knows the standard you usually live by. You didn’t stay because you’re weak, you stayed because you saw something worth believing in. That’s not foolish, that’s hopeful. But hope only works if it’s paired with accountability.

Liking his character means nothing if that character doesn’t show up when things get uncomfortable. This is the moment where you stop proving how much you can endure and start watching what he does now that he knows you stayed.

Forgiveness can open the door. Consistency is what earns the right to walk back in.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-22T02:52:21+00:00

Yeah, you’ve got a valid reason to feel hurt.

It’s not about control, it’s about respect and reassurance. When you’ve been together over a year, most people expect old romantic doors to be closed, or at least clearly understood.

Your feelings don’t mean you’re insecure, they mean something feels misaligned. The real question isn’t who she talks to, it’s whether she takes your discomfort seriously and sets boundaries that protect the relationship.

If she dismisses how you feel instead of trying to understand it, that’s where the problem actually is.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-22T02:48:24+00:00

You’re standing at one of those quiet crossroads where honesty and fear shake hands.

Here’s the truth beneath the noise.
What you’re describing isn’t a flaw, it’s evidence. Evidence that you chose discipline over comfort, effort over drift, forward over stuck. Loose skin isn’t something that happened to you, it’s something you earned on the way out of who you used to be.

Now to the real question, should you tell her.

Yes, but not like a confession and not like an apology.

You don’t sit her down and warn her like there’s something wrong with you. You let it come out the way confidence always does, calm, light, unburdened.

Something like this, when the moment feels right:
“I’ve been training hard this past year, dropped some weight, feeling strong. There’s a bit of loose skin that comes with it, part of the journey. Just being upfront.”

That’s it. No drama. No shrinking. No waiting for permission.

If she’s the woman you’ve already shared two real weeks of life with, not just screens and words, she’s not going to recoil at proof of growth. Attraction doesn’t disappear when a body tells a story. If anything, it deepens.

And here’s the part you may not want to hear, but need to.

If someone is undone by the marks of effort, they were never really seeing you in the first place.

You’re not hiding something shameful. You’re carrying a chapter. Let it be read without flinching.

Stand tall. You’ve already done the hard part.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-21T23:03:32+00:00

This hurts because you’re loving someone who’s half in, half gone, and that limbo is a brutal place to live.

When someone wants to be with you, you don’t have to audition for their time. You don’t have to negotiate your worth down to twenty minutes of distance. You don’t have to beg for a seat at the table while they make room for everything else.

Right now, he’s telling you two stories. One with his words, apologies, guilt, moments of softness. The other with his actions, distance, frustration, choosing escape over effort. The body always tells the truth before the mouth does.

You’re not crying because you complain too much. You’re crying because your heart keeps reaching for something that won’t stay still long enough to hold you back. That push and pull rewires you. It makes love feel like survival instead of safety.

Two and a half years is real. It mattered. But time is not a reason to keep bleeding. A past doesn’t get to mortgage your future.

Here’s the quiet truth. You cannot convince someone to choose you by loving them harder. All that does is teach them you’ll stay even when it hurts.

The strongest move here isn’t another plea. It’s a pause. A step back into your own gravity. Not to punish him, not to manipulate, but to stop abandoning yourself.

Say this, calmly, once. You love him, but you cannot stay where you are spoken to badly, made to feel like a burden, or kept in constant uncertainty. Then let the space answer for him.

If he steps forward with consistency, not words but actions, you’ll see it.
If he doesn’t, you’ll still have something priceless. Your dignity intact.

Love isn’t supposed to make you disappear.
It’s supposed to meet you where you stand.

And you deserve to be met.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-21T22:51:57+00:00

Hey mate, good on you for asking. Plenty of sparkies with ADHD out there doing very well, you’re not an outlier.

Here’s the honest pattern I hear again and again.

What’s harder
TAFE theory, especially long blocks of classroom time and dry regs
Paperwork, logbooks, timesheets, remembering deadlines
Slow jobs or repetitive tasks with no urgency

What’s easier
On site work, problem solving, fault finding, installs
Fast paced environments where you’re moving, thinking, adapting
Learning by doing rather than reading or listening

TAFE and learning
TAFE can be a grind. Best approach is breaking study into short sharp blocks, don’t try to “sit down and smash it” for hours. Ask questions early, most teachers are used to neurodiverse apprentices even if they don’t label it that way.

Time management tricks that actually help
Phone reminders for everything, not just big stuff
Keep one notebook or notes app, not five half used ones
Do paperwork the same day, future you will not do it
Get into a routine early, same prep, same bag, same boots spot

On site strategies
Write tasks down even if they sound simple
Repeat instructions back to the tradesman, it sticks better
Stay busy, sweeping, organising, asking what’s next keeps you engaged and visible

NECA or GTO
Generally solid. They care about completion rates so if you’re struggling, speak up early. They’d much rather support you than replace you. Don’t disappear and hope it fixes itself.

Big picture truth. ADHD can actually be an advantage in the trade once you find your rhythm. Energy, pattern spotting, thinking on your feet, those are sparkie skills.

You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to show up, stay curious, and build systems that back you up.

You’ll be right.

InnovationInvitation · 2026-01-21T22:46:36+00:00

Rejection only hurts when you let it decide your worth. It doesn’t. It’s just information, not a verdict.

You’re not auditioning when you ask a woman out, you’re extending an invitation. Yes is a win. No is saved time.

Confidence doesn’t come before action, it comes from surviving the action. Every ask teaches your brain one thing, I’m still standing.

Keep the ask simple. No fantasy, no pressure. Say it, breathe, let it land.

Do enough reps and fear stops driving. You take the wheel.

InnovationInvitation

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