On 27 November 2024, the Public Service Association and Professional Officers Association Amalgamated Union of New South Wales (PSA) commenced proceedings in the Industrial Court (Court) against the Commissioner of Police (Commissioner) concerning the failure to pay employees within the Crime Scene Services Branch (CSSB) the dinner meal allowance in accordance with cl 31.1.2 of the Crown Employees (NSW Police Force Administrative Officers and Temporary Employees) Award 2009 (Admin Award).

In essence, the PSA’s claim alleged that the NSW Police Force (NSWPF) contravened the Admin Award by failing to pay four employees, who were chosen as a sample to run the proceedings, the dinner meal allowance on occasions where they were required to travel on one-day journeys until or beyond 6:30pm and did not require overnight accommodation. The PSA’s claim sought backpay in respect of those instances identified by the four respective claimants which were identified through exhaustive and time-consuming record searches.

Differing interpretations of the PSA and the Commissioner

The PSA’s interpretation of cl 31.1.2 was that any travel, for any period of time until or beyond 6:30pm gives rise to the payment of a dinner meal allowance, if all the other criteria from clause 31 were satisfied. The PSA sought that a declaration be made by the Court that a staff member would be entitled to the dinner meal allowance if:

1. they were required to and did undertake a journey for work purposes;
2. that journey involved the staff member travelling from their usual place of work to another location or locations;
3. that journey involved the employee travelling up to 6:30pm or after 6:30pm; and
4. they were not required to obtain overnight accommodation.

The interpretation advanced by the Commissioner was far more restrictive and in the proceedings the Commissioner sought a declaration that for the purposes of clause 31.1 of the Award:

1. The phrase “one-day journey” means travel undertaken by a Scene of Crime Officer or a Crime Scene Officer:
   1. between Sydney and another location that is specified in Item 2 of Table 2 to the Award; and
   2. that is not undertaken in the performance of the staff member’s regular or ordinary duties; and
   3. that comprises a significant or substantial part of the staff member’s shift or working hours on that day.
2. The phrase “authorised by the Commissioner” means that the Commissioner of Police, or his delegate, has expressly authorised the staff member to undertake travel for a particular, identified, and official reason that is outside of the staff member’s regular or ordinary duties.

In principle settlement

On the first day of the hearing, the parties reached an in principle settlement which was contingent upon the approval of the Commissioner and the Executive of the PSA, which would be informed by a vote of membership. We are happy to present to the membership for ballot the terms of the agreement which are available here.

The in principle settlement seeks to resolve the backpay issue for the four claimants identified in the proceedings, create a backpay framework for all other employees to provide a method for employees to receive a lump sum payment, and agreement on how the dinner meal allowance will be paid going forward.

Proposed application of clause 31.1.2 going forward

A key element to the in principle agreement is that employees in the CSSB (other than those on an Allocator Shift) will be paid the dinner meal allowance if the following criteria is met:

1. the employee travels to perform their duties until or beyond 6.30pm whilst on shift; and
2. the employee does not require overnight accommodation on that shift; and
3. the employee is either:
   i. required to travel a cumulative distance of 60km per shift and is 30km away from their normal headquarters at the time of taking their meal break; or
   ii. performing duties outside of their normal headquarters (including travelling to crime scene or exhibit examination jobs or otherwise attending such jobs) for a cumulative period of 4.5 hours or more on that shift.

For the sake of clarity, the PSA advises that employees do not need to satisfy the criteria at (ci) AND (cii), an employee only needs to satisfy one of those criteria in addition to (a) and (b) to be eligible for payment of the allowance.

For the period of 28 November 2024 to 10 November 2025, employees of the CSSB can claim the dinner meal allowance if the criteria above are met with the exception that they do not need to identify whether they were 30 km away from their normal headquarters at the time of the meal break – as we understand that members would not have recorded this.

Reasonableness

The agreement reached about how clause 31.1.2 will be applied going forward is a win for the PSA. If the in principle agreement is not approved by the PSA and the matter proceeds to hearing, the Court’s task will be determining the correct interpretation of clause 31 and there is no guarantee that the outcome of the Court will be more positive than what we have achieved in this settlement offer.

In determining the proceedings, the Court could determine that the PSA or the Commissioner’s interpretations were correct or could potentially come up with an alternate interpretation, however, it would be very unlikely that the decision of the Court would identify by reference to a certain distance travelled or time spent outside of normal headquarters when the allowance should be paid.

Vote

The PSA endorses a yes vote of this offer and the settlement of these proceedings. Members can have their say by clicking this link. The survey will be open until 16 January 2026 to account for the Christmas Closedown of the PSA and holiday period.