Fire Emergency have for some time implemented a review of rostering processes that may identify potential duplicate allowances being generated in SMS and uploaded to Pse for payment.
FENZ consider a duplicate allowance as claims that are identical allowances which are lodged on the same date and time and these allowance claims may be removed from the pay run cycle. The employee should receive an email advising them of such decision with the appropriate Assistant Area Manager copied in.
If the allowance claim is subsequently identified as being legitimate, the allowance claim will be reinstated in the next available pay run.
This has resulted in many legitimate claims from members working at yellow watch stations as flagged as potential duplicate allowances, with subsequent delays in payments to them made. The Union and FENZ will be working to see if this process can be shortened to minimise any disadvantage to members.
The Yellow Watch Local variation has subsequently been made available to Payroll to help minimise these unnecessary delays in payments to staff, however it is important that the Officer in Charge inputs appropriate comments in the relevant section in SMS.
For members information the agreed local variation for claiming overtime and allowances at Yellow Watch stations are as follows:
Day Shift OT (Stand Alone)
- 1 x Day Shift OT (10.5 hours)
- 1 x Meal Allowance (covers early start at 0700, include comment "Yellow Watch early Start")
- Travel km's (as required)
- Travel time (as required)
Day Shift OT preceding a Night Shift (25hrs)
- 1 x Day Shift (10.5 hours)
- 1 x Meal Allowance (covers early start at 0700, include comment "Yellow Watch early Start")
- 1 x 0.5 hours additional hours (1730-1800, entered as additional claim and MUST include comment stating "Yellow Watch 25 hour shift", this will also automatically generate a second meal allowance)
- Travel km's (as required)
- Travel time (as required, no travel for time between 1730-1800)
If after following the above process members still find that their allowances and claims are being flagged as duplicate entry by Payroll, please contact one of your station cluster representatives immediately.
For any other queries or clarifications on this process please contact the Secretary.
