Agency-based term transfer or career movement policy

Application

Under an agency-based term transfer or career movement policy, after three years in their then work location in a coastal city, the applicant was due to be transferred back to the State capital. The employee’s application to remain in the coastal city, to allow them to better manage parenting responsibilities, was rejected by the agency. The employee applied for secondary review of that decision by the Merit Protection Commissioner.

While the applicant originally accepted a fixed three-year term assignment to the coastal city, the applicant applied to stay there permanently after their marriage broke up and the applicant’s spouse took their children abroad. A Family Court order required the applicant’s spouse to send the children to stay with the applicant every school holidays and, according to the applicant, they could best manage to look after the children during those periods in their present location where the applicant’s parents also lived.

Review

The Merit Protection Commissioner found that, having already obtained two short-term extensions, the applicant would have spent almost five years in their present location, the maximum allowed under the agency’s term transfer or career movement policy. According to the agency, under the policy, there were no permanent jobs in that location and the time had come to give other interested staff an opportunity to gain experience offered by a placement in a highly sought after district office.

Outcome

Having considered the matter, the Merit Protection Commissioner concluded that the agency had made reasonable attempts to balance organisational requirements with the applicant’s needs. By extending the term transfer on two previous occasions, the agency provided the applicant with adequate time to plan for parental responsibilities. That said, the Merit Protection Commissioner recommended that the agency allow the applicant a further, reasonably short period beyond the notional transfer date to allow them to put into place any special arrangements associated with parenting responsibilities and return to the capital city, and further discuss their parenting and development needs as these would relate to the applicant’s new job. The applicant’s agency accepted the recommendation.

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