With the there being no current Public Safety Order in place, many of the requirements to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to work are also not in force.

Employees should note that individual work sites will have different policies and expectations with regard to how they manage health and safety.

Previous Work

Many employers have advertised for positions previous employees may have held when they were released from employment due to not being vaccinated or not wishing to disclose their health information.

Now that the mandate(s) are no longer in effect, applying for previous positions is a reasonable thing that some may do. We encourage previous employees to seek out their previous employment and to seek returning on similar terms to when they left.

Discrimination

Some workplaces who have previously had employees may choose not to rehire those employees despite advertising for same or similar positions. Employees with clean work histories may be able to pursue the line of reasoning behind being refused if the only previous concern an employer held was surounding their vaccinaton status.

Considerations

Despite this, various workplaces such as hospitals or other health sensisitive sites may have internal policies around vaccination requirements. The view of the Fair Work Commission and Courts is that these are reasonable requirements to impose on employees working in high risk or health sensitive areas provided the company can validly outline such requirements.

Concerns

Members who are concerned about whether they can return to work can email VICSU’s member support for assistance and advice in returning to their previous work.

Email: MemberSupport@VICSU.Org.au

The post Vaccination Mandates Ended appeared first on The Victorian Security Union Incorporated.

New Year’s Day – Wednesday 1 January
Australia Day – Monday 27 January (2)
Labour Day – Monday 10 March
Good Friday – Friday 18 April (1)
Saturday before Easter Sunday – Saturday 19 April
Easter Sunday – Sunday 20 April
Easter Monday – Monday 21 April
ANZAC Day – Friday 25 April (1)
King’s Birthday – Monday 9 June
Friday before the AFL Grand Final – Subject to AFL Schedule (3)
Melbourne Cup – Tuesday 4 November (4)
Christmas Day – Thursday 25 December (1)
Boxing Day – Friday 26 December

1 ANZAC Day, Good Friday and Christmas Day are restricted trading days.

2 As Australia Day falls on a Sunday, the public holiday is on the following Monday.

3 Friday before AFL Grand Final typically falls on the last Friday in September. This website will be updated with the exact date upon release of the 2025 AFL schedule.

4 Melbourne Cup Day is a public holiday across all of Victoria unless alternate local holiday has been arranged by a non-metro council.

New South Wales

New Year’s Day – Wednesday 1 January

Australia Day – Monday 27 January

Good Friday – Friday 18 April

Saturday before Easter Sunday – Saturday 19 April

Easter Sunday – Sunday 20 April

Easter Monday – Monday 21 April 

Anzac Day – Friday 25 April

King’s Birthday – Monday 9 June

Bank Holiday – Monday 4 August

Labour Day – Monday, 6 October

Christmas Day – Thursday 25 December

Boxing Day – Friday 26 December

*The public holiday standard in the Public Holidays Act 2010 provides that when Australia Day (26 January) falls on a Saturday or Sunday, there will be no public holiday on that day and instead the following Monday is to be the public holiday. 

**The public holiday standard in the Act provides that when New Year’s Day, Christmas Day or Boxing Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday there is to be an additional public holiday on the following Monday or Tuesday.

The post Public Holidays 2025 appeared first on The Victorian Security Union Incorporated.

Authorised Workers are required to be vaccinated with at least one dose by 22 October or be able to reasonably present that they are booked for their first dose of Covid Vaccination between 15 October and 22 October.

The second dose deadline for authorized workers is November 26 2021.

Security Workers fall into several catchments under the Victorian Covid-19 State of Emergency Vaccination (Worker) directions.

Some examples of these are Airport Workers, Hospital Security and those engaged in the Vaccination or Quarantine systems.

Under current directions effective as of 14 October, a number of less clear worker classification catchments are also likely to include Security Workers and can be found on the DHHS Website by clicking here.

These include under Section 9 (but are not limited to):

Ancillary Workers for Public Events – (4)(a)(i)(B)

Ancillary, support and welfare worker means a person who works in connection with a public event where that event has received an exemption from the Chief Health Officer allowing it to proceed, including any workers and public broadcast personnel that support the safe running of the public event.

Emergency Service Worker – (10) (a) (ix)

For the purposes of these directions emergency service worker means a person who works in connection with emergency services including but not limited to essential infrastructure and essential services that are required to maintain or protect human health, safety and wellbeing (whether provided by a public or private undertaking), and including maintenance and repair of such infrastructure.

These two “Catch all” references are the most likely to collect security workers in the current directives.

After 22 October if a further State of Emergency is called, the current directives would likely mean that only workers who become vaccinated with a single dose before November 26 and are double dosed there after will be able to work without being restricted by the Stay at Home Orders.

VICSU will support any members who have difficulties with this process or if their employment is being threatened by their employer(s) during this period with regards to being unvaccinated.

– Victorian Security Union

Acting on information available as at 15 October 2021

The post Mandatory Vaccination Deadlines appeared first on The Victorian Security Union Incorporated.

Regarding Violent Protesting

We strongly condemn the recent violence towards Victoria Police
Officers and Journalists during the recent Protests.
Workers were hurt today while doing their job, no Union supports that.

Regarding Vaccinations

We are not Medical Experts.

This is why we follow the health advice of medical experts, which is
overwhelmingly that people should get vaccinated.

We encourage Security Workers to follow the advice of Medical Experts
and to speak to their doctor about any personal medical concerns.

Regarding Mandatory Vaccinations

We do not support Employers mandating vaccinations exceeding the
mandates of the Victorian Government.

We do support Employers prioritizing employees who are fully
vaccinated for frontline work until immunity can be tested for.

You can download a copy of our statement here:

The post Official Statement on Violence and Vaccinations. appeared first on The Victorian Security Union Incorporated.

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What lets me do this?

Section 36 of the Private Security Act 2004 deals with licence renewals.

The three relevant subsections are as follows:

36 Application to renew a licence

(1) Before a private security licence expires, the holder of the licence may apply to the Chief Commissioner for the renewal of the licence.

(2) An application under subsection (1) must—

(a) be in a form approved by the Chief Commissioner; and
(b) contain any prescribed particulars; and
(c) be accompanied by any prescribed documents or prescribed information.

And,

(4) A private security licence, in respect of which an application is made under this section, is deemed to continue in force, after the expiry of the licence period, until the Chief Commissioner makes a decision in relation to the application.

What does this mean?

That as long as you have submitted your renewal, your old (current) licence is in effect until a decision is made by the Chief Commissioner through LRD.

Because of this, you should continue to carry your expired licence while working as it is still considered in effect.

What should I tell Police or my Employer?

If you are queried by the Police or your Employer upon providing your expired licence, inform them that you have submitted your licence renewal.

You may wish to provide evidence of this, such as your payment receipt.

How do I know if LRD have received my application?

In VicSU’s correspondence with LRD, we were informed that a person who’s application has been received prior to expiry will continue to appear in the LARS database with the expiration date. Licence holders who’s renewal is not received prior to the expiration date will not be visible on the LARS database.

VicSU members can contact us for queries and assistance with licence renewals.

More Licencing information can be found on the LRD Website or by contacting LRD directly.

The post Security Licence Expiry & Renewal Information appeared first on The Victorian Security Union Incorporated.

The post VicSU: Industry Reform Recommendations (2020) appeared first on The Victorian Security Union Incorporated.

The Victorian Security Union will be finalizing it’s industry reform suggestions on the 20th of November and would like to take suggestions from the wider Security Industry.

We are inviting all Security Workers to give their suggestions before we finalize and submit our views on what the Security Industry needs to reform.

Suggestions may be added here :

The post VicSU Industry Review: Have Your Say appeared first on The Victorian Security Union Incorporated.

The Victorian Security Union was asked to provide a comment about the dangers of working in Security after an assault on a fellow officer over the weekend in Hoppers Crossing.

The Security Officer was reported to be moving to aid the passengers of a vehicle involved in an accident where the Security Officer was attacked by the group involved.

Violence should never be tolerated at any level, regardless of the industry someone works in.

When we go to work, we acknowledge that our job comes with risks while protecting something or someone else.

It is never acceptable.

It’s also sad that at times, violence comes even when we are going to the aid of others. The officer involved was a good Samaritan, so many in Security are.

The post VicSU in the News – Assault on Security Officer appeared first on The Victorian Security Union Incorporated.

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