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Last updated: 12 January 2007

Termination of employment

Archived publication – please see www.apsc.gov.au/publications12/terminatingapsemp.htm for current publication.

Appendix A: Meaning of 'Procedural fairness ' - Extract from APS Commission booklet publication Working with the Act: Managing breaches of the APS Code of Conduct

Procedural fairness

The principles of procedural fairness require people whose interests will be adversely affected by a decision to be given an opportunity to be heard, and decision-makers to act without bias or self-interest, and to base their decisions on compelling or 'logically probative' evidence.

These principles are known as the hearing rule, the bias rule and the no evidence rule.

The application of the principles of procedural fairness may vary, depending on the circumstances of the particular case or the way in which the particular statutory power is framed.

In its fullest application, procedural fairness requires that:

• people against whom an adverse decision may be made must be informed of any allegations against them in as much detail as possible;
• wherever possible people must be provided with an opportunity to put their case, and to hear the case against them, whether at an oral hearing or otherwise;
• where a decision has to be made between competing interests, all parties to a matter must be heard and all arguments considered;
• no person judges their own case or a case in which they have a direct interest; and
• decision-makers must act fairly and without bias.

Appendix B: Compensation for early termination of non-ongoing APS employees engaged for a specified term

A certified agreement, AWA or individual engagement advice could:

• specify that where a non-ongoing APS employee who has been engaged for a specified term is terminated before the expiry of the specified term because:
  • the duties for which they were engaged are no longer available;
  • the duties in relation to which they were engaged have been completed ahead of time; or
  • a decision has been made that those duties are no longer required to be performed;
    the employee will, in addition to any entitlements arising under section 170CM of the WR Act, be entitled to compensation in respect of the period of service foregone; and
• state that the employee shall not be entitled to other damages or compensation in respect of, or arising out of, the termination.

The following formula may be appropriate in relation to a non-SES employee engaged for a specified term. An agency will, however, need to have regard to the particular circumstances of the engagement, e.g. whether remuneration packaging applies or the person relocated from interstate or overseas to take up the engagement, the length of service prior to termination, and other steps taken to mitigate the employee's loss such as assisting in finding alternative employment.