Higher duties allowance (HDA)

53. Where a role needs to be filled for 2 or more working weeks (inclusive of public holidays), HDA will be paid to any employee temporarily occupying the role acting at a classification level higher than their substantive classification level.

54. HDA will be equal to the difference between the employee’s current salary and the salary that would be payable if they were promoted to the higher classification level, or a higher amount determined by the Delegate.

55. HDA is payable during periods of paid leave where the HDA would have otherwise continued.

56. Where an employee is found to be eligible for salary progression at their acting classification level they will receive an appropriate increase in the rate of HDA. The employee’s salary level will be retained for all future periods of acting regardless of elapsed time.

57. Where an employee is assigned only part of the higher duties, the Delegate will determine the amount of allowance payable.

58. HDA will be payable while an employee is acting at a higher classification level as part of a job sharing arrangement where the duration of the arrangement is at least 2 working weeks.

59. The Delegate may shorten the qualifying period for HDA on a case-by-case basis.

60. An employee assigned higher duties at the SES classification level for 2 or more working weeks (inclusive of public holidays) will be paid HDA at a rate determined by the Delegate.

Workplace responsibility allowances

61. Employees appointed by the Delegate or elected by eligible peers and performing the role of First Aid Officer, Emergency Warden, Health and Safety Representative, Mental Health First Aid Officer or Workplace Respect Officer will be paid a fortnightly allowance rate as per the table below. This allowance rate will increase in line with the salary rate increases, as reflected in the table below.

62. Where an employee holds 2 or more of these roles simultaneously, they will be paid a single allowance rate, unless the Delegate approves otherwise due to operational requirements.

63. The full allowance is payable regardless of flexible work arrangements and part-time arrangements.

64. The Delegate will consider an employee’s physical availability to undertake the role when appointing and reappointing employees to these roles, noting that some roles may not necessarily require a physical presence in the workplace.

65. Casual employees who are eligible to receive a workplace responsibility allowance will be paid the full rate, provided they are engaged to work during any given pay cycle, irrespective of the frequency and duration of the work undertaken.

On-call allowance

66. Employees will be considered to be on-call and receive an on-call allowance where they are directed by their manager to be contactable, fit to work, and available and ready to work at immediate notice, outside the 7am – 7pm Monday to Friday span of hours.

67. From time to time urgent, high priority and time critical work may arise requiring employees (particularly Executive Level employees) to undertake work outside the span of hours. Unless there was a prior direction to be on-call, this will not attract on-call allowance.

68. The weekly (7 calendar day) rate for on-call allowance is set out in the table below. Employees required to be on-call for less than one week will be paid on a pro-rata basis for each day.

69. Employees will only be required to be on-call for a maximum of 14 days in any 28-day period (calendar days).

70. If employees are on-call and recalled to work (in the office or remotely):

1. APS 1-6 employees will be entitled overtime.
2. Executive Level employees will normally be granted TOIL, or paid overtime if the Delegate determines there are exceptional circumstances.

Refer to the Overtime and Executive Level TOIL sections for more information in Section 4.

DLO and CLO allowance

71. Employees appointed by the Delegate and performing the role of DLO (for the Minister’s office) or CLO will receive an annual allowance as per the table below, paid fortnightly.

72. The allowance is in recognition of the long hours of duty expected, and is in lieu of overtime, flex-time and TOIL.

73. The allowance is payable during periods of paid leave.

Community Language allowance

74. A community language allowance will be paid where the Delegate determines that an employee is regularly required to use their ability to communicate in Braille or a language other than English (including First Nations languages and AUSLAN) in the course of their work, and the employee meets the required level of competency set by the Delegate.

75. The allowance is paid in accordance with the employee’s level of competency:

76. The allowance is calculated annually and paid fortnightly.

77. The full allowance is payable regardless of flexible work arrangements and part-time arrangements.

78. The allowance is payable during periods of paid leave.

79. The allowance counts as salary for superannuation purposes and for calculating retirement and redundancy entitlements.

Travel expenses

80. Where employees are required to travel for work, they should not be out-of-pocket for reasonable costs of travelling, accommodation, meals and other incidentals. These expenses will be covered by PM&C. 

81. The preferred method of payment is Government credit card. Where this is not practicable an allowance will be paid, normally in advance, at the rates set out by the Australian Taxation Office’s annually updated Taxation Determination for reasonable travel and meal allowance.

82. The Delegate may approve payment of airline lounge membership fees for employees who need access for work purposes. Employees may also purchase a membership at PM&C's discounted corporate rate.

Motor vehicle allowance

83. Employees may use a private vehicle for official travel where it is likely to result in greater efficiency or less expense than other means of official travel and the Delegate approves. Motor vehicle allowance will be paid at rates set by the Australian Taxation Office.

Relocation assistance

84. Where an existing employee is required to relocate at the request of PM&C (such as a promotion), the employee will be provided with financial relocation assistance. Employees who relocate on a temporary basis to take up higher duties are entitled to removal expenses if they relocate for a period of 13 weeks or more.

85. Where an employee is required to relocate on engagement with PM&C, the employee will be provided with financial relocation assistance.

86. Reasonable expenses associated with the relocation include:

1. the cost of transport of the employee, dependants and partner by the most economical means;
2. removal expenses, namely the reimbursement of reasonable incurred costs of the removal of furniture and household effects of the employee, dependants and partner;
3. the reimbursement of the cost of the insurance premium based on a reasonable replacement value; and
4. the reasonably incurred expenses in kennelling and transport of pets, up to the amount specified in the APS Award.

87. Additional relocation assistance may be considered at the Delegate’s discretion.

Reimbursements

Carer’s costs

88. Where an employee is required to travel away from their normal work location, or is directed by their manager to work outside their regular working pattern, the Delegate may approve reimbursement of reasonable, unavoidable, additional costs associated with the care of family members or dependants. The employee must advise their manager in advance that costs may be incurred, unless it is impractical to do so.

Loss or damage to clothing and/or personal effects

89. The Delegate may approve reimbursement for loss or damage to clothing and/or personal effects occurring in the course of an employee’s work.

Financial retirement advice

90. Employees aged 54 years or older may receive a one-off reimbursement of up to $500 (plus GST) towards the cost of financial retirement advice.