AUXILIARY UPDATE : 20 march 2020

COVID-19 leave, and other, arrangements

On Monday 16 March 2020 the Office of Industrial Relations published Directive 01/20 – Employment Arrangements in the Event of a Health Pandemic which can be found here.

While the Directive does not technically apply to UFUQ members (because you are employed under the Fire and Emergency Services Act 1990), QFES will be administratively applying the relevant provisions to Fire and Rescue.

I encourage members to familiarise themselves with the Directive and the associated Implementation Guide which can be found here.

Due to the nature of the work you do, much of the Directive has little relevance to Auxiliary Firefighters.

However, the Directive does provide for employees to be paid their regular remuneration if they are willing and able to attend work but are directed by the employer not to attend work (more details can be found regarding this at clauses 14.6, 14.7 and 14.8 of the Directive).

In a practical sense, this will relate to your training nights, particularly in the event that QFES direct you to not attend for COVID-19 related reasons.

If you have any questions regarding the above or any other matter related to the Directive, you should direct them to your Regional HR Officer and/or QFES Employee Relations in the first instance.

John Oliver - General Secretary