Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement 2024: what prison officers should check when rosters change

The Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement 2024 is an FWC-approved industrial instrument, not a WorkSafe compliance code or a government policy. The Fair Work Commission approved it on 12 August 2024; it began operating on 19 August 2024 and has a nominal expiry of 9 April 2028. This guide focuses on Section I and the Department of Justice and Community Safety provisions in Appendix 1. Check your employer and classification first: a privately operated prison may be covered by a different agreement.

Hours, pay and notice

Under clause 43.1 and Appendix 1 clause 4, full-time officers in the Custodial Officer structure can be rostered for up to 80 hours averaged per fortnight over a roster cycle, made up of 76 ordinary hours and four reasonable additional hours. The agreement preserves a specified 76-hour nine-day roster for officers who met the grandfathering condition at approval. It provides additional remuneration for the 80-hour pattern; check the applicable classification and salary table before assuming there should be a separate payment line. The agreement does not displace the National Employment Standards test for reasonable additional hours.

Appendix 1 requires the roster to be displayed at least 14 days before it takes effect. A proposed change to the character of the roster, such as the number of days in a fortnight or ordinary hours in a day, has a separate written-notice requirement, normally at least 14 days before implementation. Officers can make objections or explain the impact. The appendix provides an emergency exception to written notice where the employer reasonably considers an emergency exists.

Separate consultation from a personal flexibility request

Proposed shift-roster changes engage Section I clause 12. Appendix 1 sets out consultation with the CPSU and affected shift workers, and implementation of a change under clause 12 through a Local Prison Roster Committee. It calls for a minimum three-month trial of proposed changes and agreed trial terms that assess safety, fatigue, family effects, work-life balance and financial impacts. Ask which process is being used and who will measure those effects. A roster-change consultation is not the same as an individual request for flexibility.

Appendix 1 clause 5 supplements other flexible-work rights. It provides for consideration within 21 days of the request, written reasons if the manager refuses, and a review by an Assistant Commissioner or delegate where the officer believes it was unreasonably refused. Keep the dated request and the written response, and check which agreement and statutory pathway applies.

What to keep

Keep the old and proposed rosters, when each was displayed, written notices, actual hours, short turnarounds, and payslips. Raise specific questions about the impact on recovery time and safety, not just whether a shift is inconvenient. Check the agreement's dispute process in Section I clause 13 if the issue cannot be resolved locally. A safety concern may also require action under Victoria's OHS laws, independently of the industrial process.

Official source

Read the Fair Work Commission approval record, the Victorian Government's agreement PDF and DTF's agreement overview. The official links are supplied in place of a hosted copy because republication permission was not confirmed. This is general workplace information, not advice on an individual roster or dispute.