Ex-Tropical Cyclone

Service changes

All Wesley Mission Queensland physical sites (excluding residential aged care (RAC), community aged care essential services, specialist disability accommodation (SDA) and Hopewell Hospice) will remain closed on Tuesday 11 March

All sites (excluding Community Transport Service and Home Assist Service) will reopen Wednesday 12 March.

The Community Transport Service and Home Assist Service will reopen Thursday 13 March.

Remote working arrangements (telehealth, online virtual classes/support) and work from home (WFH) will remain in place for tomorrow.

A comprehensive list of service changes is also listed on our webpage Ex-Cyclone Alfred Update

Staff unable to work from home (eg loss of power/connectivity) can work from Chermside corporate offices, following approval from your manager.

Disaster leave

We acknowledge the impacts of this weather event have been wide reaching and some staff will be unable to attend work or carry out their shifts remotely.

Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred has been declared a natural disaster in the following Local Government Areas (LGA)

• Gold Coast City
• Logan City
• Redlands City

We also expect further declarations as flooding continues through Ipswich and Lockyer Valley. The full list of information can be found here .

Where a local disaster response has been declared, an employee may request disaster leave if they are prevented from attending their normal place of employment because of floods, cyclonic disturbances, bushfires or severe storms and may be granted leave on full pay not deducted from any leave account.

This leave applies when an employee:

• is prevented from attending their normal place of employment and it is not practical for them to attend for duty at another nominated site or to work from home
• prevented from working from home (e.g.  due to power loss) and it is not practical to attend work at another work site
• absent from their usual place of residence on approved leave or during a weekend and are unable to return in sufficient time to attend the normal place of employment or it is not practical to attend duty at another site
• affected by the protection of their family and property or the availability of transport facilities which may be disrupted or discontinued because of weather or environmental conditions 
• required, out of necessity, to remain at home to safeguard their family or property 
• remaining at home to have temporary repairs effected, restore belongings, clean up etc.

Entitlement and approval

An employee is entitled to the following leave because of floods, cyclonic disturbances, bushfires or severe storms:

• You may be paid up to three (3) days of leave per calendar year at your ordinary rate of pay. You may not accrue disaster leave.
• The CEO may consider additional special leave on full pay in exceptional and deserving cases or when an employee is affected by more than one disaster in any one year.

Approval of leave is subject to the Manager and the Director of the service (who will speak to their P&C Business Partner for advice) being satisfied that the absence is justified and unavoidable. Please note, evidence may be sought. Once approved disaster leave should be entered as “Recovery Leave” in Mirus.

For those significantly impacted by the weather event, please be aware that personal hardship financial assistance is also available through state and federal government grants.

Message from the CEO

We know many staff have been significantly impacted by power outages, heavy rain and flash flooding. Our thoughts are particularly with those who have been displaced or dealing with rising flood water near their homes.

Thank you once again for your resilience during challenging times. We look forward to seeing the doors to most of our services reopen in the coming 24 hours, providing support to those who need us most.

Warm wishes

Jude Emmer (CEO) & Emergency Response Team