Office of the Public Sector Standards Commissioner

Informing employees

The agency must:

• take reasonable steps to inform employees of the standards and the breach claim process under the regulations; and
• notify relevant people about decisions on recruitment and grievances.

The following lodgement forms are provided for your assistance. All claims must be sent directly to the agency and not OPSSC.

• Breach of Standard Claim Form PDF 118Kb
• Breach of Standard Claim Form Word 353Kb

Lodging a claim

• Claims must be lodged within the specified time for the agency – either four or ten days. For further information on lodgement times see the four day breach claim period.
• The Commissioner may approve the lodgement of a claim outside these timeframes under special circumstances.

Processing & referral

• The agency may forward the claim to OPSSC immediately or may attempt to resolve the claim. We do not expect that agencies undertake any detailed internal process that duplicates the OPSSC process.
• If a written withdrawal has not been received within 15 working days, the agency must forward the claim to the Commissioner.

Conciliation & review

• The Commissioner appoints an impartial conciliation and review officer.
• The initial focus is on achieving a conciliated agreement; this does not have to acknowledge a breach.
• If conciliation is not possible, the Officer undertakes a review of the claim and provides a report to the Commissioner on the facts and circumstances of the claim as they relate to the standard.
• Further attempts to conciliate may be made at any time up until the Commissioner makes a determination.

Determination

• The Commissioner considers the report from the conciliation and review officer and any other relevant information to reach a determination as to whether there has been a breach of the standard. Where a breach occurs, the Commissioner recommends action the agency should take to correct the breach.
• The Commissioner advises the agency and the claimant of the decision and gives reasons.
• The Commisioner identifies if there are any concerns with the process, whether or not there has been a breach. Matters that reflect poor process but do not breach the standards will be highlighted for practice improvement.
• The Commissioner cannot recommend that the claimant is a better person for a job than another applicant and that they should be appointed to a position.

Relief

• Within ten working days of the Commissioner's determination and recommendations, the agency must advise the Commissioner of the action they propose to take to correct the breach. It also advises the Commissioner within ten working days after they have implemented that action to remedy the situation.

Reporting

• The Commissioner reports to ministers and Parliament on breaches of the standards and relief provided, any failure by the agency to provide relief and any breaches of the regulations.