Judicial Associates Survey

Separate to the PSA’s goal of creating an award specifically for associates, the PSA has commenced proceedings in the Industrial Relations Commission in which it is asserting that the Crown Employees (Public Service Conditions of Employment) Reviewed Award 2009 (the Conditions Award) and the Crown Employees (Administrative and Clerical Officers – Salaries) Award (the Salaries Award) apply to associates and have applied historically.

The Conditions Award regulates the employment conditions of the majority of public servants within the PSA’s coverage and provides a comprehensive suite of conditions which are superior to the conditions provided in fact to associates (for example, it provides overtime, 15 days sick leave and various other allowances, leave entitlements and other conditions).

We understand that the Department is already applying the Salaries Award to associates.

If the Conditions Award was to apply retrospectively, that would give rise to an underpayment of various entitlements – most notably overtime. There may also be an underpayment of allowances and penalties. The difficulty with resolving the underpayment is that associates were not required to keep records of their work hours or other records to evidence entitlements to allowances, thus making the process of proving and quantifying the underpayment difficult.

In the interests of resolving this underpayment, the PSA intends to make the following offer in respect of the backpay of overtime, allowances and penalties under the Conditions Award:

1.       The Department will permit each individual associate to choose between the following options in lieu of the entitlements to overtime, allowances and penalties under the Conditions Award that have accrued between 1 January 2020 and 1 January 2024:

 

a.     The payment of $8,000 (pro-rated for associates with less than 4 years service);

b.     The addition of 6 weeks annual leave credited to the associate’s leave balance (pro-rated for associates with less than 4 years); or,

c.      The associate can submit claims for backpay which will be dealt with in accordance with the Conditions Award.

We note that the above offer does not deal with crediting of leave entitlements, which we are addressing separately.

We also note that if the above offer is accepted by the Department, each individual associate will be able to choose the form of compensation they want (i.e. the payment, the additional leave or to submit claims for backpay).

The Department has not indicated that they will agree to the above offer.