The applicant Union’s member was a police officer who travelled to the UK in March 2021 as part of a recruitment drive, promoting living and working as a police officer in Western Australia.

The Union and the Police Commissioner were in dispute about whether the member was entitled to overtime pay for the hours outside his rostered ordinary hours, while he was on the long-haul flights to and from London, and while he was waiting at the respective airports.

The issue was what the relevant overtime clause in the applicable industrial agreement meant when it referred to “all time worked.”

The Union invoked s 46 of the Industrial Relations Act 1979 (WA) to resolve the question of the meaning of ‘all time worked’ in the Western Australian Police Force Industrial Agreement 2022. Section 46 empowers the Industrial Relations Commission to declare the true interpretation of an award or industrial agreement that is in force.

The Union argued that any time that an officer is doing an activity because they are instructed, directed or required by the Police Commissioner to do it, they are working. The Union said that if an officer travels on an 18-hour flight paid for, organised by and required by the Police Commissioner, time spent on the flight is time spent working.

The Police Commissioner argued that while time spent on a flight may in some circumstances be time spent working, it would only be time spent working if during that time the officer was on duty in the sense of either being rostered on duty or being directed outside of rostered hours to engage in policing activities.

Senior Commissioner Cosentino analysed the text of the industrial agreement to ascertain what was the objective intention of the parties when referring to “all time worked” in the overtime clause. The Senior Commissioner noted that other provisions of the Agreement contained themes that indicated rosters are the primary means of determining when an officer is on-duty, that being on-duty and working are interchangeable, that there is intended to be a clear line between when an officer is on duty and when an officer is off duty, and time spent travelling to and from work is not itself time worked.

The Senior Commissioner then considered what being on duty involved. In this regard, the Police Force Regulations provide strong indications of what is and is not consistent with being on duty. An officer must be able to devote themselves “exclusively and zealously” to the discharge of their duties when on duty, which indicates that being on duty that is generally inconsistent with the officer, at the same time, being able to engage in private activities, such as sleeping, enjoying entertainment or engaging in private correspondence.

The Decision can be read here.