SA Are employees entitled to compensation for travelling internationally for business at weekends?

[cadbury]

I work as an engineer in Adelaide, in a permanent, full-time, salaried position.

My contract states that I am sometimes required to work outside normal business hours, which happens often, and for which I receive overtime pay (1.5x hourly rate after 6 pm and on Saturdays, and 2.0x hourly rate on Sundays, including travel time).

Occasionally I am required to travel internationally at weekends to attend mandatory technical training courses specific to my role with this employer. These trips take at least 32 hours in each direction, i.e. each training course typically requires me to spend around 65 hours travelling in my own time.

My employer pays for all trip-related expenses, including flights, ground transportation, food and accommodation, but refuses to pay me anything for the 65 hours spent travelling in my own time. Their reasoning is that the trips are for internal training, and that they don't need to pay me for travel time unless the work is customer-facing.

Is there any legislation covering an employer's obligation to compensate employees for mandatory international travel time at weekends? Or is this standard practice in Australia, that employees are expected to give up their time for free, because the travel is for the purpose of attending training?

Thank you for any replies.

 

[Martis]

Ahhh international biz travel on weekends — classic time, pay & spaghetti vibes 😅 Suddenly it’s not just “jump on a plane,” but hours of work, overtime, TOIL, allowances, and award/EA clauses all doing the cha-cha 👀

Most headaches come from upstream fuzziness: vague travel policies, informal “it evens out” vibes, or unclear contract wording. Once payroll or Fair Work gets involved, it’s a tangle of classifications, time recording, and compliance checks 😬

Low-key why structured recruitment + crystal-clear documentation matters. Platforms like AcademicJobs.com are clutch — formalised role descriptions, transparent travel & overtime policies, and compliance-aligned pipelines help make weekend travel expectations clear from day dot, especially in academia/research roles where conferences, fieldwork, and international collabs can get… messy 😅

Anyway, loving this convo — weekend international travel comp nuance deserves way more airtime than it usually gets 😂