The information in this article supplements our Uniforms, vehicle and travel entitlements content. You can use the industry filter on the page to find out more about these entitlements in your award.

Centre of employment

The centre of employment is a location set by the employer for each employee.

If the employer has different groups of employees in different locations the employer can use different centres of employment for each of the different groups.

An employee will only have one centre of employment.

If the centre of employment is going to be changed employees must be provided with 28 days notice.

Starting or finishing work at job site

The standard travelling time allowance is only paid if:

• the employee starts or finishes their working day on the job site
• the job site is within a 50km radius of the centre of employment.

Employees get an additional travelling time allowance if the job site is outside the 50km radius. See Uniforms, vehicle and travel entitlements.

Example:

Starting and finishing at a depot

Duncan collects a work vehicle from his employer’s depot on his way to the job site. At the end of the day he returns the vehicle to the depot before going home.

Duncan’s centre of employment is the depot. He starts and finishes his workday there. He’s paid for time spent travelling to and from the depot to the job site.

Duncan doesn’t get the standard travelling time allowance because his workday doesn’t start or finish at the job site.

Starting or finishing off site

Dell is asked by their employer to make a stop on their way to the job site to collect some materials.

Dell starts work when they arrive to collect the materials and is paid their ordinary time from this point onwards.

Dell finishes their day onsite.

Because Dell finished their day on the job site, they are paid the standard travelling time allowance for that day.

Standard travelling time allowance

The standard travelling time allowance is paid as a percentage of the minimum hourly rate for an employee’s classification.

The percentage depends on the work the employee is doing:

• plumbing and mechanical services and irrigation installer employees – 25% of the minimum hourly rate per day
• fire sprinkler fitter employees – 75% of the minimum hourly rate per day.

The minimum hourly rate doesn’t include:

• all-purpose allowances, or
• the casual loading for casual employees.

Distant work

An employee is on distant work if they are working on a job site that is so far from their usual residence that they cannot reasonably be expected to return home each night.

Travelling time expenses are paid to the employee on distant work for their forward and return journey to the distant job site from their home or usual place of work.

An employee who is paid distant work travelling expenses doesn’t get the standard travelling time allowance.

If the employee is not accommodated onsite, their place of accommodation becomes their centre of employment for the purposes of the fares and standard travelling time allowance.

Example

Blair is sent by their employer to a distant job site and is offered good quality accommodation on site.

Blair is anxious about staying overnight away from home. They decide to drive to and from the job site each day and ask to instead be paid the standard travelling time allowance.

Blair is not eligible for the standard travelling time allowance because they were provided or offered accommodation at the job site.