September 2001 Volume 82 Number 9
"serving the protectors"
| September 2001 Volume 82 Number 9 "serving the protectors" |
|
|
|
|
| By Mark Carroll, PASA Assistant Secretary |
Enterprise bargaining
The ballot will be counted on September 6, 2001, and results will be forwarded to members by way of a general newsletter to all stations.
If the vote is in the affirmative, the parties will seek ratification of the agreement in the South Australian Industrial Relations Commission. SAPOL is responsible for back payment and any enquiries regarding it should be forwarded to SAPOL.
Paid maternity leave
I am periodically queried about the guidelines for accessing paid maternity leave. Payroll Section at SAPOL allegedly informs members that paid maternity leave must be taken before a child’s birth. This is clearly incorrect.
To clarify the confusion, I have raised the issue directly with SAPOL’s Employee Relations Branch. The Commissioner for Public Employment Circular 25 states that maternity leave shall commence on the date requested and is available for a period up to 52 weeks (two weeks which is paid currently). Why Payroll Section states otherwise is anyone’s guess.
Long service leave
In the Police Journal of March 2001, I wrote on the issue of long service leave, as the Police Association was continually receiving calls from members who had been denied the ability to access this lawful entitlement. It seems not much has changed so, for readers to gain an understanding of the provision, we reproduce the article here:
There appears to be a general lack of understanding throughout SAPOL with regard to the ability of members to access long service leave entitlements.
The Commissioner for Public Employment Circular governs the process of approving long service leave applications. It is granted under the Public Sector Management Act. It is referred to in SAPOL general orders (page 148). Employees are expected to give a reasonable period of notice of their intention to take long service leave and, in most cases, one month should be sufficient. If a chief executive officer is unable to agree to a request then a mutually acceptable commencement date and period should be sought and appropriate arrangements will be made to grant leave to the employee as soon as practicable. An application must not be deferred indefinitely.
In general orders, the Commissioner of Police states that applications will usually be granted, provided that the time taken is convenient to SAPOL. SAPOL has in the past declared its intention to cancel all forms of leave - such as the Christmas/New Year period 1999/2000, or for the Olympics. These are bona-fide and justifiable reasons.
If the employer (or your officer-in-charge) denies you an application for long service leave on grounds outside of your control - such as SAPOL not recruiting enough staff, not providing relieving officers, not providing enough supervisory ranks, or an inability to roster personnel appropriately - then you can challenge, through your Association if you desire, the decision to deny you an application for long service leave.
Those members who have challenged a management decision to deny granting long service leave have been successful. Members are usually denied long service leave in the first instance because of a lack of staff. The association has requested the hierarchy of Human Resources to instruct line managers in the correct handling of long service leave applications.
Syllabus material
I was lucky enough to view the new CDR format of SAPOL syllabus material, learning guides, training aids and other resources. This all-encompassing CD is an excellent innovation for members studying for promotion or preparing themselves for selection interviews and the like.
SAPOL is to be congratulated on producing such a learning aid, which is a lot easier to carry around than the numerous manuals and policies now contained on it.
|
||||||||||
|
The Police Journal Online is an
official publication of the Police Association of South Australia and is
published monthly. Editors of kindred publications can seek permission from the Editor to re-publish any Police Journal Online article. Copyright 2001 The Police Association of South Australia sustance |