Madeleine Harradence, Assistant Secretary of ANMF (Vic Branch)
Generally, a full-time or part-time employee should have a home ward/unit/department or service and should not expect to be moved in other-than-exceptional circumstances.
While the COVID surge and the Code Brown declaration saw widespread redeployment, these were exceptional circumstances. In normal circumstances, redeployment to another site or to other work would be a major change that has a significant effect on an employee and would require consultation in accordance with the EBA.
Where your current role is redundant, and you are redeployed (which could only occur after consultation) your employer must provide the reasonable support necessary for the you to perform the role, which may include:
- theory training relevant to the clinical area or environment of the role into which you are to be redeployed
- a defined period of up to 12 weeks in which you work in a supernumerary capacity
- support from educational staff in the clinical environment; and/or
- a review at 12 weeks or earlier to determine what, if any, further training is required.
There is nothing in the EBA that allows an employer to unilaterally redeploy someone to another site if you do not ordinarily work there.
There will, from time to time, be circumstances that require employees to be redeployed to another ward. If it becomes commonplace for you, contact your ANMF organiser.
My employer says I am employed to the health service, not a particular campus of the health service; is that right?
An employer requiring an employee to work on another campus has been a significant issue for members for some time, with employers typically arguing that you are employed to the health service, not a particular campus of the health service.
While that may be true for some positions, most positions have a campus they generally, if not exclusively, work at.
Under both the Nurses and Midwives (Victorian Public Sector) (Single Interest Employers) Enterprise Agreement 2020–2024 and the Victorian Public Mental Health Services Enterprise Agreement 2020- 2024, base employment campus is defined as the campus of the employer at which you ordinarily start and finish work.
What if I agree to redeployment during a shift?
Where you temporarily relocate from your base employment campus to another campus during a shift, you will be paid the vehicle allowance, and the travel must occur within paid time.
What if I agree to redeployment prior to a shift?
Where you temporarily relocate from your base employment campus to another campus prior to a shift, you will:
- be reimbursed for additional travelling cost (where applicable)
- where travel time increases by 15 minutes or greater (to and return) be paid an allowance equal to your ordinary rate for the additional time spent when compared to your travel time from home to your base employment campus.
What about permanent relocation where my ward has permanently closed?
Your employer must provide a Change Impact Statement to the ANMF and consult with you and other affected employees.
Where you permanently relocate from your base employment campus to another campus as a result of redundancy, you will be reimbursed for additional travel costs (where applicable) in accordance with the relevant Relocation clause.
What about permanent relocation when my ward has moved from one campus to another?
Your employer must provide a Change Impact Statement to the ANMF and consult with you and other affected employees.
Where your position is required to permanently relocate from your base employment campus to another campus you will be reimbursed for additional travel costs (where applicable) in accordance with the Redundancy and Associated Entitlements clause in each public sector Agreement.
2022 Delegate Conference amendments
At the 2022 Delegates Conference, Job Reps and Health and Safety Reps voted on two motions related to redeployment. The first motion requested that ANMF (Vic Branch) support the Redeployment Allowance taking place within the same hospital/campus. The resolution proposes that if the employer requests to change an employee’s rostered place of work/ward/area of work, once set in accordance with the Roster clause, and the employee agrees to same, the Redeployment Allowance will apply in relation to each change as follows:
- If the request is made within 60 mins of commencement of shift or after commencement of shift (and the staff member agrees to same) five per cent of the base rate (as defined); and
- If the request is made after the roster is set, as above, but with greater than 60 mins notice (and the staff member agrees to same) 2.5 per cent of the base rate (as defined);
- A record to be maintained of staff redeployment to include areas rostered to and area redeployed to, and reasonable fairness to be applied;
- Every effort to be made to avoid redeploying staff who have rotational positions, so as to ensure they have fair and reasonable time in all areas they rotate to;
- A record to be maintained of staff who are willing to be redeployed, and to what areas they are willing to be redeployed and to include staff who are yet to be orientated/need support before redeployment to a given area. Such staff are to be offered orientation and support in the new area;
- Strategies to provide protection from fatigue and psychological injury/stress associated with redeployment are to be implemented;
- Staff who are redeployed greater than 30 per cent of their shifts over a given 12-week period are to be granted an additional three days leave on full pay (pro rata for part time employees);
- Rules that would prevent the circumvention of this provision by, for example, employers defining their whole workplace as a single area or declaring all nurses to be part of a pool arrangement;
- Structures to ensure that employers make genuine attempts to minimise redeployment similar to the provisions which require employers to make genuine efforts to avoid double shifts.
The second motion requested that ANMF (Vic Branch) specify, in the 2024 public sector log of claims, that any redeployment of staff should be allowed to be refused by the staff member on reasonable grounds.
Both motions passed, and will now be included in the 2024 public sector EBA log of claims.
