Public Service Regulations (Amendment)

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

STATUTORY RULES 1983 NO 119

PUBLIC SERVICE REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)

Issued with the authority of the Public Service Board

Sub-section 97(1) of the Public Service Act 1922 (‘the Act’) provides that the Public Service Board (‘the Board’) may, with the approval of the Governor-General, make regulations prescribing all matters which are required or permitted to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

These statutory rules amend a number of regulations of the Public Service Regulations (‘the Regulations’) and repeal a large number of others. The repealed regulations have been replaced by a Board determination. Details are given below.

Regulation 1 of the statutory rules fixes a commencement date of 1 August 1983 for the statutory rules.

The amendments made to various regulations are described below.

Regulation 2 of the rules omits the definition of ‘the officer in charge’ from regulation 3 (‘Interpretation’) of the Regulations, since it is not a phrase which any longer requires definition in the Regulations.

Regulations 3 and 4 amend regulations 7 and 8 of the Regulations by providing that officers should have ready access to, and should acquaint themselves with, Board determinations made under section 82D of the Act, as well as with the Act itself and the Regulations.

Sub-regulation 15(1) provides that management may direct the forfeiture of salary of staff who have had unauthorized absences from duty. Sub-regulation (2) provided that the period of any absence in respect of which an officer or employee has performed duty in pursuance of a requirement made under sub-regulation (1) shall be disregarded for the purposes of this regulation. It was considered sub-regulation (2) was rather obscurely worded, and regulation 7 of the statutory rules substitutes a provision to the effect that time required to be made up for unauthorized absence will be in place of the forfeiture of salary which would otherwise occur under sub-regulation (1).

Regulation 22 of the statutory rules repeals, inter alia, regulation 100F of the Regulations (see the table of repeals below). Regulation 100F provides for the review by the Board at the request of aggrieved officers or employees of departmental decision in connexion with the Studies Assistance Scheme. In its place, regulation 10 inserts a new regulation (33E) into the group of regulations which provide a general scheme for the review of personal grievances within the Public Service (regulations 33-33F). The new regulation provides that a matter concerning the Studies Assistance Scheme that is referred by an officer or employee to the Director of the Board’s Grievance and Appeals Bureau shall be inquired into by him, or he may refer it to the Board for investigation. He is required to advise the officer or employee who requested the review of his decision. Regulations 9 and 10 of the statutory rules also make a number of consequential amendments to regulations 33 and 33F. Regulation 25 of the statutory rules is a transitional provision which preserves the operation of regulation 100F following its repeal in respect of any request under that regulation which had been made before the repeal.

Regulation 24 of the statutory rules amends regulation 139 of the Regulations. Regulation 139 contains a reference to regulation 97E, which is repealed by these statutory rules (see table below) and replaced by provisions in Board Determination 1983/10. The amendment to regulation 139 removes the reference to regulation 97E and replaces it by a generic reference to ‘any determination made under section 82D of the Act in respect of...education costs of children attending school away from the locality at which a person is stationed’.

Pursuant to its powers under section 82D of the Act to determine, by instrument in writing, the terms and conditions of employment of officers and employees, the Board has made Determination 1983/10, which contains provisions to replace the regulations repealed by these statutory rules (with the exception of regulation 100F - see above) as shown in the table below (the determination is drafted to come into effect on 1 August 1983, the day the repeal of the regulations is to be effective):