PSA was advised by Service NSW of a proposal to roster employees from Service Centres operating Monday to Friday to work Saturday shifts at Service Centres operating Monday to Saturday, which are within a reasonable travel distance to the non-Saturday trading Service Centres.  This is with particular reference to Wynyard and Haymarket Service Centres although we have now been made aware of this being introduced in other Centres on the Central Coast.

Your union sought legal advice on your behalf as to whether the Department is able to roster staff between Service Centres and whether that would entitle employees to compensation under Clause 23 of the Award.

The legal advice is as follows:

It is relevant to note that cl 11 of the Service NSW Award identifies the Spread of Operating Hours for Service Centres as:

1. 1.1 Service NSW Service Centres
   1. Monday to Friday 6:30am to 7:30pm
   2. Saturday 7:30am to 3:30pm

Clause 16.1 of the Service NSW Award identifies the ordinary hours of work for full-time employees and relevantly includes the following:

1. The ordinary hours of work for full-time employees of Service NSW are seventy (70) hours per fortnight (Monday to Saturday), vvhich are to be worked over a two (2) week roster cycle, within the spread of hours in clause 11.
2. Full-time employees, in a Service Centre or Contact Centre shall be rostered to work their seventy (70) hours perfortnight in either nine (9) days or ten (10) days, Monday to Saturday in the two (2) week roster cycle, based on the operational needs of Service NSW
3. Full-time Service Centre and Contact Centre employees shall not be required to work more than five (5) consecutive days during the roster cycle.
4. Subject to rostering arrangements of this Award, any other change to the days worked or the span of hours will be by agreement between Service NSW and the

Work undertaken on a Saturday will comprise part of an employee’s standard hours of work over a two (2) week roster cycle. Employees shall not be required to work more than one (1) Saturday in two (2) except by way of mutual agreement

Clauses 11 and 16 make plain that full-time employees of Service NSW working in Service Centres may be rostered to work Monday to Saturday. The fact that historically an employee has worked at a Service Centre which has not operated on Saturday due to the operational requirements of Service NSW does not preclude Service NSW from being able to roster that employee to work on Saturday.

The reference to ‘centre(s) in clause 2.8 of the Service NSW Award indicates that an employee is able to be attached to more than one centre.

Clause 23 of the Award provides various entitlements in respect of travel arrangements, which largely concern the performance of work away from an employee’s headquarters. The inclusion of these entitlements makes plain, that it is contemplated within the award that an employee is able to be required to work away from their headquarters and provides relevant conditions which should be paid to an employee if they satisfy the requirements.

Taking into account the consideration of the Service NSW Award set out above, it would be unlikely that an employee would be able to establish that being rostered to work at another Service Centre on a day within the ordinary hours under the Service NSW Award would amount to an unreasonable or unlawful direction absent specific factual circumstances that make it unreasonable. For example, if the employee had carer’s responsibilities that would be impacted by the performance of work on a Saturday or potentially if there was a requirement to work at a Service Centre which was an unreasonable distance from their home and the required travel posed a health and safety risk to the employee.

As regards travel compensation under clause 23 of the Service NSW Award, this will depend on the individual circumstances of particular employees and the means by which they are rostered.  The close proximity of the Haymarket and Wynard centres is not a strong argument in favour of additional travel time however ad hoc rostering vs rostering for an indefinite period of time could trigger the provisions of the clause.

In short, Service NSW is able to roster you on Saturdays but only one Saturday in two unless you agree to more frequently, and being rostered on a Saturday will not necessarily mean you are entitled to travel compensation.

If you have further concerns in relation to being rostered on a Saturday, we recommend that you discuss a flexible working arrangement with your manager in the first instance and then contact quoting reference number 10001843 if the matter is not resolved that way.