Officer fights Victoria Police over flexible working request

Victoria Police’s staffing concerns and an officer’s need to care for his aging parents clashed during a flexible working dispute.

Leading senior constable Beaumont, a crime scene officer based in an outer suburb of Melbourne, said Victoria Police has been unhelpful with a request to adjust his working hours on the grounds he is over 55 years old and is caring for his elderly parents.

In response, Victoria Police said Beaumont was “inflexible and unwilling to give credence to its needs” for staffing.

According to the Fair Work Commission (FWC), there have been multiple failed attempts during 2022 and 2023 to come to an agreement that will benefit caring arrangements without compromising resources for the community.

Although the matter has now settled in favour of both parties, the FWC was critical of how the dispute played out over the last two years.

The last time they were before the FWC, Beaumont was placed on a six-month trial of eight 10-hour shifts per fortnight, but this fell apart less than a month later over a dispute about Beaumont’s duties.

In the recent proceedings, Beaumont accused Victoria Police of a failure to correctly apply flexible work arrangements under the Victoria Police (Police Officers, Protective Services Officers, Police Reservists and Police Recruits) Enterprise Agreement 2019.

The FWC also dealt with Beaumont’s new request for a flexible work arrangement (FWA) that would see him work eight 10-hour shifts a fortnight, leaving two “rest days” to care for his parents.

In his application, Beaumont – assisted by the Police Federation of Australia union – said this would have “no effect on productivity … as there is now more personnel and thus better flexibility”.

Victoria Police’s Inspector Dollard said the crime scene services unit could not lose two whole shifts a fortnight and instead offered Beaumont four 10-hour shifts and five eight-hour shifts.

In a decision handed down this week, commissioner Nicholas Wilson dismissed Beaumont’s application, finding Victoria Police had a reasonable business ground for refusing the new FWA.

Wilson also found Victoria Police genuinely tried to reach an agreement with Beaumont that would serve both parties.

However, he also noted both Beaumont and Victoria Police were responsible for the failure to come to a compromise.

“Had the trial FWA succeeded, the resources of the Police Association and Victoria Police – and the Fair Work Commission – need not have been diverted to running this case,” Wilson said.

Wilson added that while he understands Beaumont’s caring responsibilities, a nine-day fortnight instead of his request for eight days should be “given earnest consideration”.

It is because of this that Wilson recommended a blended roster arrangement of four 10-hour shifts and five eight-hour shifts.

“If Beaumont attempted to reject this recommendation as being insufficient for his needs, he should take account of the French proverb often attributed to Voltaire that ‘perfect is the enemy of good’.

“More prosaically, a part-way compromise is still better than nothing at all,” Wilson said.

Both parties have until 28 June 2024 to accept the terms.