June edition - The Police Association Victoria

IR News
Members win on excess
travel and BOCC
Chris KennEDy >
INDuSTRIAL RELATIONS
MANAGER
Excess Travel
Fair Work Australia has agreed with a Police
Association submission that members
must be reimbursed when they are forced
to drive their own vehicle when there is
no direct transport available when attending
a training course.
The Association recently took the Force
before Fair Work Australia after it refused
to pay excess travel time and costs to a
member attending a training course, despite
the current Agreement clearly stating that
members have a right to be reimbursed for
using their own vehicle where no direct rail
or bus service is reasonably available.
The Force argued that a direct rail service
could comprise multiple forms of transport
and that members need authorisation to
take their own vehicle, even where there is
no direct service available for the member to
get to training or a temporary work location.
In Fair Work Australia’s view a direct service
is defined as a single journey on a single
mode of transport and a single taxi trip. In
this case, the member can be reimbursed
by a first class fare and a taxi voucher. If a
direct service is not available, the member is
entitled to use their own vehicle and receive
the kilometre rate.
For example, a member travelling from
Ballarat to the Academy could be given a rail
fare from Ballarat to Southern Cross and a
taxi voucher for the trip from Southern Cross
Station to the Academy should these modes
allow the member to arrive at the Academy
in time for the course. If it does not, the
member is entitled to use their private
vehicle or could be rostered to travel during
work time on the previous day.
In all cases, excess travel time is also
payable if it meets the criteria set out in the
current employment agreement.
Excess travel is payable where the training
or temporary work location is more than
24 km (as the crow flies) from your station
in metropolitan areas or more than 50 km
or 40 minutes drive in country areas.
If you have any questions or require
assistance, please contact the Industrial
Relations Section at the Association.
BOCC successes
A sworn police presence has been retained in
the Victoria Police Force’s Welfare and Multimedia
Units following a successful bid by the
Police Association to avoid these areas from
further civilianisation by the BOCC project.
Under BOCC project plans, the Welfare
Unit was earmarked to lose three sworn
members to civilians. Moreover, the decision
was made without consultation with the
members or managers concerned
With the assistance of the Police
Association, affected members submitted
grievances, arguing that it was essential for
welfare officers to be sworn so as to better
connect with members and to gain access
to crime scenes and areas where members
would require assistance.
When Victoria Police rejected these
arguments, the matter was then referred to
retired police superintendent Trevor Parks to
arbitrate the matter.
The Association’s principle argument in this
case was that sworn members that occupy
positions at Welfare are required to possess
expertise, which can be acquired only
through actual field experience as a sworn
police officer. This is in line with Force policy.
Members in need of Welfare assistance
need to be able to talk to a member
who has shared their experiences and
can understand without having to have
policing explained to them. It is why
members at the Welfare unit have always
mainly been sworn. If the BOCC proposal
was implemented, the high quality
service provided by the Welfare Officers
would be lost.
The arbitrator agreed with the Police
Association. The win will ensure that the
Force will continue to provide a robust
and relevant welfare response staffed
by members who have experienced
police work.
The Association was also successful in
the BOCC arbitration for the Multimedia
Unit. Again, we demonstrated that
members need to have experienced being
a sworn member to be able to create
training materials about the roles and
responsibilities of sworn members.
Unfortunately our submissions in the
Academy Security and Field catering units
were unsuccessful because the positions
within these units no longer required the
use of police powers.
At the time of writing, there are still
several BOCC arbitration hearing still
to be determined.
The Police Association Victoria Journal June 2011
07