Handling Misconduct - A human resource manager’s guide

Commissioner’s Foreword

I am pleased to present the third edition of Handling Misconduct: A human resource manager’s guide. The guide has been revised and updated to ensure it continues to meet the needs of Australian Public Service (APS) agencies and support the institutional integrity of the APS as a whole.

Handling Misconduct provides best practice guidance to APS agencies on addressing behaviour that does not meet the requirements of the APS Values, Employment Principles, and Code of Conduct.

This edition of the guide provides a framework to help agencies take a diagnostic approach to conduct concerns as they arise. Agencies are encouraged to consider behaviour in context, assess its seriousness and impact on public confidence in the APS, and respond in a way that is corrective, restorative, and proportionate.

This edition also sets out a range of management strategies agencies can put in place to improve individual behaviour, repair workplace relationships, and address systemic issues in cases where misconduct action would be disproportionate. These strategies can also supplement misconduct processes where broader restorative action is needed.

The guide provides an explanation of the principles and legislative framework underpinning APS conduct requirements and misconduct action, and sets out considerations for decision-makers at particular stages of the process.

It is accompanied by a range of supplementary materials, including checklists and fact sheets on key topics. Further resources will be added over time to address emerging areas of need.

The integrity and proper conduct of each APS employee is critical to maintaining public trust in the APS as an institution. As important, however, is how the APS as an employer manages behaviour that falls short of expectations. Handling Misconduct supports agencies to take action that is reasonable, proportionate, and effective in strengthening trust in the integrity of the APS.

Mr Peter Woolcott AO
Commissioner
Australian Public Service Commission