Commerce:- Career Transition

Central Council, 10 October 2005

Report adopted

The PSA has raised concerns with the Department of Commerce about its Career Transition Program since its inception in June 2004.

Essentially the scheme involves the referral of displaced staff to private human resources or recruitment agencies for full-time 'training'. In practice this has left PSA members with little or no support, no 'meaningful work' in accordance with the policy and no contact with colleagues. The success rate of the Career Transition Program was abysmally low, with only one person being redeployed in the public sector in the first six months out of close to fifty displaced staff.

Two PSA members have now exhausted their twelve months of salary maintenance whilst on the Career Transition Program and have been offered few if any opportunities for redeployment. One has now been directed in a much lower graded position under section 57 of the Public Sector Employment Management Act 2002 (NSW). The other has been directed to take annual leave in accordance with Circular 99-37, and had it signalled that he too will be directed into a lower-graded position upon his return.

The PSA has lodged disputes in the Industrial Relations Commission on both matters. Essentially the disputes hinge on the question as to whether the Department's referral of these members to Career Transition, where they received little to no case management, no duties and very few redeployment opportunities, constitutes the Department ". . . taking all practicable steps to secure work in the Department...", as section 57 requires before the power to reduce salaries can be triggered.