Working on annual leave

To understand the compensation arrangements for being required to work on an annual leave day, it is important to understand that annual leave is a precious thing in the context of policing.  Recalling an officer to duty from a period of annual leave is a serious thing and it should never be done lightly.

However, “leave” is a day upon which an officer is paid, but given ‘leave’ not to come to work.

The following scale of compensation applies where an officer is recalled to duty from a period of absence from duty of three or more days (of which at least one day is annual leave):

 If the period of absence includes rostered rest days, days in lieu of overtime, or public holidays, compensation for working on those days (or time off in lieu) would be according to the relevant regulation.

This means that you have to be away for at least three days, but only one of those days has to be annual leave. As an example, if you book one or two annual leave days as an ‘island’ within a period of working days, and you are required to work on one of them, the only compensation you receive is a plain day of annual leave back. If you have a weekend of two rest days, and you tack an annual leave day on, you now have the minimum of three days. If you are recalled for the annual leave day, you are compensated as in the table. If you have to work on the rest days, you are compensated at the appropriate rate for a cancelled rest day.

If you claim double time payment in the scenario above this will be a day's pay which is 8 hours or whatever your shift would have been, if you work a VSA. Additional hours worked beyond that would be at time and a third

This also applies if you book annual leave for dates in the future, and then something occurs that requires you to work, you are compensated at the rates in the table.

If you have booked for example a single day's Annual Leave and therfore it is not a period of absence as above and you are recalled we believe that you get your AL day back and work as normal the underlying shift.