Claim a meal allowance when:
- lunch is not provided
- special dietary requirements cannot be met
- you miss your pre-paid meal due to recovery-related work requirements.
You will be reimbursed in accordance with the relevant meal allowance:
Timesheets, pay and allowances
You will be paid for your time working in Community Recovery, including any overtime entitlements, through your agency’s normal agency payroll system per the Critical Incident Entitlements and Conditions Directive 06/16.
You can also claim the costs of any eligible travel expenses you incur. Keep your receipts/tax invoices and attach these to your claim form.
Timesheets
Completing your Community Recovery timesheet
You MUST complete the Community Recovery timesheet to record your hours of duty and any absences for each day you’re deployed and have it signed by your team leader daily. You MUST have a 10 hour break between when you finish work one day and when you commence the following day.
You MUST also complete your home agency timesheet and apply for any leave taken during your deployment with Community Recovery.
Your Community Recovery timesheet can be stored electronically on a computing device (PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone) or hardcopies will be kept in a sign-in folder at the Community Recovery location you are assigned to.
When completing your timesheet, refer to the timesheet hot tips below or contact your Agency Key Contact for further assistance.
You must:
- Complete a Community Recovery electronic timesheet (wherever possible).
- If you need to complete a manual timesheet, make sure you write legibly, using upper case print writing (not cursive)
- You MUST also complete your home agency timesheet and apply for any leave taken during your Community Recovery Deployment.
- record your time in 15 minute intervals
- include your usual travel time from home to work
- show your correct payroll department
- provide your payroll number and salary class
- include your employment status
- complete all required fields. If your timesheet is incomplete you will be contacted to provide the missing information which may delay the processing of your timesheet.
- you MUST have a 10 hour break between when you finish work one day and when you commence the following day.
Failure to comply with these requirements may delay the processing of your Community Recovery timesheet.
Each day your Team Leader will check and sign off on the hours you have worked. They will check you had a minimum 10 hour break between shifts.
- Alert your Team Leader if, based on your rostered finish/start work times, you will not have a minimum 10 hour continuous break between when you finish work and when you are scheduled to start the next day.
- If this is the case, your Team Leader should instruct you not to report for duty the following day until you have had 10 consecutive hours off duty.
- You will not lose pay for ordinary working time during this absence.
If you change work locations during your deployment period, take your Community Recovery timesheet with you and give it to your new Team Leader.
Before leaving the disaster area:
- take a copy of your completed Community Recovery timesheet(s).
- leave the signed original in the disaster area.
- The Coordination Centre will batch the original signed timesheets and send to Brisbane for processing.
Remember: Community Recovery timesheets are legal records.
Completing your normal home agency timesheet
You must complete your normal home agency timesheet when you return to your normal workplace after Community Recovery deployment.
Record your ordinary hours for each day you worked in Community Recovery.
Complete any other leave forms as directed by your agency key contact.
Public holidays
If your deployment falls on a public holiday you will be paid the relevant public holiday rates for hours worked.
Accrued time leave (ATL), overtime and time off in lieu (TOIL)
You do not accrue ATL while working in Community Recovery.
- While the Critical Incident Directive is in effect, staff up to level AO8.4 (or equivalent) will be paid overtime.
- Overtime is payable for all work done before 6am or after 6pm, and on weekends.
- All overtime is paid according to the hours you record on your signed Community Recovery timesheet. No other claim form is required.
- Full-time and part-time staff should receive any overtime entitlements 4 to 6 weeks after deployment.
- Casual staff should receive payment 3 to 4 weeks after deployment
Part-time staff who work the days that they are normally off duty will be paid as if they were a full-time employee working a standard week. You must correctly record your employment status on your Community Recovery timesheet.
Instead of overtime, you can choose to receive a TOIL credit for any additional hours worked on top of your ordinary hours.
- If you work for the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy, email CRBTimesheet@communityrecovery.qld.gov.au immediately after your deployment period.
- If you work for another agency, contact your agency key contact.
Allowances
If you work a certain amount of overtime doing Community Recovery work, but do not leave your usual place of work, you may be eligible to receive an overtime meal allowance.
Complete the Community Recovery Usual Workplace Overtime Meal Allowance Claim form and submit it with your completed Community Recovery timesheet. Your timesheet recordings will be used to verify your claim.
An incidental allowance is paid for each night you are away from home. Reimbursements such as for buying essential items (milk, tea, coffee, carparking, taxi) that have been approved by a supervisor are processed through the accounts payable system.
The overnight incidental allowance is $17.30 per night, per the Domestic Travelling and Relieving Expenses Directive 9/11.
A hardship allowance may be granted to compensate for accommodation below an RACQ 3-star rating:
- The hardship allowance is paid per night, per the Critical Incident Entitlements and Conditions Directive 06/16.
- This allowance is taxable and will be paid through your payroll department.
The hardship allowance is not an automatic entitlement. The SREMT Deployment Manager will decide whether to grant the hardship allowance.
You can use your private mobile phone for work-related purposes.
You must provide an itemised phone account that clearly identifies the work-related calls you made. Attach this to a completed Expenditure Voucher using the disaster cost centre advised by your agency key contact.
If you need to travel for Community Recovery away from your normal workplace and outside the ordinary spread of hours (i.e. before 6am or after 6pm Monday to Friday, Saturday, Sunday or on a public holiday), and would ordinarily be compensated for excess travel time, you will receive an additional payment made at your usual hourly rate at the time the excess travel occurred.
Excess travel time is calculated to the nearest quarter hour. No compensation is payable where excess travel is less than 15 minutes, or more than 8 hours in any one calendar day.
Excess travel time is calculated as the difference between the time usually taken to travel between your home and your usual workplace and the time it takes to travel from your home to your assigned Community Recovery work location. This calculation occurs regardless of whether travel is undertaken on a day you would not normally be working.
You can submit a claim if you satisfy the following requirements:
- There are no other reasonable options to get to your assigned Community Recovery work location at the appointed time, including a government car or public transport, and
- The distance between your residence and your Community Recovery work location is greater than the distance between your residence and your normal workplace, and
- Based on the above, your deployment coordinator has agreed, and provided you with written confirmation, that you can drive your private car.
Mileage Allowance
To claim a Mileage Allowance you must contact your insurance company before you drive to your Community Recovery work location, and ask for an endorsement indemnifying your employer against certain liabilities at law. This is a standard endorsement available on request from all insurance companies.
You must then provide a copy of your Comprehensive Motor Vehicle Insurance Policy or Third Party Property Damage Insurance Policy showing the indemnity was in place on the date you drove to/from your Community Recovery work location.
Reimbursement is based on engine size and a prescribed per kilometre rate.
If you were not able to obtain the indemnity you can claim eligible fuel costs. Reimbursement is based on the kilometres travelled, the cost of fuel purchased, and the car’s fuel usage rate.
Airport parking
Airport parking can only be claimed if there are no other reasonable transport options available and driving and parking for the duration of your deployment is more cost effective than other means of transport.
Be sure to discuss approval for airport parking with your deployment coordinator when your deployment is being organised so that you can be sent the relevant claim forms with your deployment email.
Payroll queries
Department of Treaty, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Communities and the Arts staff:
- Email Queensland Shared Services (QSS) directly at communityrecovery@chde.qld.gov.au with the subject "DTATSIPCA, Your Name; Employee/Payroll Number; and Topic of Enquiry".
- QSS will aim to provide routine employee and payroll advice within 2 days of request.
Staff from other government agencies:
- Email your agency key contact.