Bucci v Ambulance Victoria [2024] FWC 1411 was another dispute between Ambulance Victoria (AV) and a staff member.

Mr Bucci is an Advanced Life Support (ALS) paramedic who applied for training to become a Mobile Intensive Care (MICA) paramedic.  To complete that training he had to complete some course work (which he did) and some on-road training. He was advised that to complete the on-road training he would be allocated to an ambulance station away from his home station.  To complete the training Mr Bucci has to be away from home for 4 days at a time.  He was offered ambulance accommodation but determined it was not suitable as it did not allow his family to stay with him so he rented private accommodation and claimed overnight travel/living away from home allowances ([1]-[5]).

AV denied liability to pay the allowances arguing (at [9] that ‘it was Mr Bucci’s choice to do the MICA traineeship course. AV had not required him to do it’ and that when he applied he had been advised his employment would be varied when it came to the on-road training to allocate him a branch to complete the on-road training. It was therefore argued that he was not required to live away from home and further his ‘home’ station, during the training was Geelong not Warrnambool.

 Deputy President Colman agreed. He said (at [12]):

… employees are entitled to receive the various allowances … where they are ‘required by their Employer to live away from home, to perform their duties’. I find that Mr Bucci has not been required by AV to live away from home. It was Mr Bucci’s decision to apply to be selected as a MICA trainee. He was not required to make an application or to accept the offer that AV made to him … Mr Bucci cannot now say that he was required by AV to live away from home.

Further (at [15]):

I consider that, at the times when Mr Bucci has been undertaking the on-road training in Geelong, his home for the purposes of clause 31.13 has been the branch in Geelong where this on-road training is performed… Although Mr Bucci retains his nominal position as an ALS paramedic based in Warrnambool, he is not currently serving in that position or at that branch.

The Deputy President concluded (at [17]):

Mr Bucci is not entitled to the allowances in clause 31.13 in respect of the periods spent undertaking the on-road training because he was not required by his employer to live away from home to perform his duties at these times. In any event, when undertaking on-road training, his home branch was in Geelong, not Warrnambool.

Conclusion

Members of AV will want to consider this judgment when making a decision to apply for MICA or other training that will require them to be away from their normal station or family.

This blog is made possible with generous financial support from the Australasian College of Paramedicine, the Australian Paramedics Association (NSW), Natural Hazards Research Australia, NSW Rural Fire Service Association and the NSW SES Volunteers Association. I am responsible for the content in this post including any errors or omissions. Any opinions expressed are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or understanding of the donors.