Engagement of state and territory government employees

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Overview

State or territory government employees who wish to join the Australian Public Service (APS) are required to apply for vacancies advertised by APS agencies. A decision to engage a state or territory government employee must be based on merit in accordance with Part 4 of the Australian Public Service Commissioner’s Directions 2022 (the Directions). Further information on the elements of the merit principle can be found on the APS Merit Principle webpage.

Engagement of state or territory government employees

State and territory public services are separate entities from the APS. State or territory government employees who join the APS on an ongoing or non-ongoing basis are engaged as APS employees under section 22 of the Public Service Act 1999 (PS Act). The movement of a state or territory government employee into the APS is not a transfer under section 26 of the PS Act.

Consistent with any other engagement under section 22, conditions of engagement will apply, for example, citizenship and probation requirements. Further information on managing conditions of engagement is on the Conditions of Engagement page.

Section 12 and 13 of the Public Service Regulations 2023 (the Regulations) and section 27 of the Directions prescribes time limits on the duration and extension of non-ongoing engagements. However, subsection 13(7) of the Regulations and section 28 of the Directions provide that where an individual is:

  • an employee of a state or territory, or an authority of a state or territory and
  • the Agency Head has entered into an agreement with a state or territory or an authority of a state or territory, to engage the person as a non‑ongoing employee for a specified term

the period of engagement is decided by the Agency Head. There is no mechanism for an extension of the period decided by the Agency Head in these circumstances. Further information on non-ongoing employment can be found on the Non-ongoing temporary employment page.

Portability of leave

The portability of accrued paid leave entitlements where employees are engaged into the APS from a state or territory public service is determined by each agency’s employment instrument, where it is not specified in legislation.

HR practitioners seeking advice on the operation of maternity leave, long service leave and the APS Award can contact the Workplace Relations team at workplacerelations@apsc.gov.au.

Service for redundancy purposes

Agency workplace arrangements generally set out the type of service that may be counted when calculating redundancy entitlements of non-SES employees who are excess to requirements in the APS. Generally only continuous Commonwealth service is counted, which would exclude service with any State or Territory public service.

An exception applies to employees who were compulsorily transferred to the Australian Capital Territory Public Service (ACTPS) when it was established on 1 July 1994, and then re-joined the APS. In these circumstances, the following periods will generally count as service for redundancy pay purposes, provided the continuity provisions set out in workplace arrangements are satisfied:

  • APS service prior to 1994
  • ACTPS service between 1 July 1994 and the person's subsequent engagement as an APS employee and
  • the current period of APS service.

Further information

HR practitioners seeking more information on the engagement of state or territory government employees as APS employees can contact the Employment Policy team via employmentpolicy@apsc.gov.au or call the advice line on (02) 6202 3857.

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