Breach of Public Sector
Standards claims
Information for employees and applicants
If you believe that a decision made by the Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) has
breached one of the five Public Sector Standards in Human Resource Management listed
below:

Employment, including recruitment, selection, appointment, temporary deployment
(acting), secondment and transfer

Performance Management

Grievance Resolution

Redeployment or

Termination;
and that you have been adversely affected by the breach, you may seek redress by lodging a
breach of standards claim.
Breach claims should be discussed and lodged with DPaW’s Manager, Workforce Services.
Claimants should be as specific as possible in outlining why they believe a breach has
occurred, with reference to the relevant standard.
Once a claim has been lodged, in the first instance, DPaW must attempt to resolve the matter
internally. If a written withdrawal has not been achieved within 15 working days DPaW must
forward the claim to the Public Sector Commissioner.
Note that the Commissioner may decide not to deal with a claim if it relates to matters which
the Commissioner does not have the power to deal with; is considered vexatious, frivolous,
lacking in substance or not to warrant further action; has been or is being adequately dealt with
already; or is solely about the competitive merit of the claimant.
Although the Public Sector Management (Breaches of Public Sector Standards) Regulations,
2005 require that DPaW only provides notification about the regulations and standards to
relevant persons for some employment decisions and completed grievance processes, the
regulations also require DPaW to take reasonable steps to ensure that information about these
is made available to employees.
Information that is specific to particular standards is outlined below:
Employment Standard
With the exception of ineligible applicants who have not been considered for possible
appointment to a vacancy and applicants who have withdrawn from the process, DPaW
provides notification about the standards and regulations to all persons who apply
unsuccessfully:

to fill a vacancy where the period of appointment is more than 6 months;

to fill a vacancy where the period of appointment is 6 months or less if the vacancy was
advertised on the basis that the period of appointment could be extended beyond 6
months or become permanent; or

for selection to form part of an appointment pool.
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Department of Parks and Wildlife
Guide to breach of Public Sector Standards claims – Information for employees and applicants
Only applicants who are notified in this way have the capacity to submit a breach claim with
respect to a vacancy for which they have applied unsuccessfully. Such applicants have a
timeframe of either 4 or 10 working days (depending on circumstances) after it is reasonable to
expect that notification of the selection decision would be received, in which to lodge a breach
claim. The date by which any breach claim must be lodged is included in the applicant’s
notification letter.
Except under special circumstances approved by the Commissioner, decisions relating to the
Employment Standard arising from general or targeted advertising where applicants have
breach rights cannot be progressed until the breach period has closed and any breach claims
have been resolved. Note, however, that the selection of people to form part of an appointment
pool can proceed after a breach claim is lodged, but there are restrictions on appointing people
from the pool to fill vacancies until after any claims are finalised. In short, such appointments
can occur, but there must be sufficient vacancies left unfilled to enable claimants to be
considered for appointment to an appropriate vacancy if a breach is found.
DPaW may temporarily place a person in a vacancy in the short term while it is subject to the
regulatory processes. However, the decision to do so must be made in accordance with the
Employment Standard.
In the case of transfers that were not the result of an advertising or expressions of interest
process, a person may lodge a breach claim only if their request for a transfer has been
declined, or as the result of a DPaW-initiated transfer. The lodgement period is 10 days after
the person first became aware of the transfer decision, or 30 days after the decision was made,
whichever period expires first.
Grievance Resolution Standard
Under the regulations, DPaW is required to provide notification about the standards and regulations
to any person


whose grievance resulted in a decision, and
who was the subject of the grievance.
The lodgement period is 10 days after the person was given notice of the decision.
Performance Management, Redeployment and Termination Standards
The lodgement period for claims made under each of the above standards is 10 days after the
person first became aware of the decision, or 30 days after the decision was made, whichever
period expires first.
Discipline Standard
In accordance with the Public Sector Management Act, 1994, breaches of standard procedures
do not apply to the Discipline Standard. Please contact the Manager, Employee Relations on
(08) 9219 8539 for further information on disciplinary matters.
Considering Lodging a Claim?
Should you be considering lodging a claim, please contact the Senior Consultant, Recruitment
and Establishment for further information and to obtain a Breach of Standard Claim Form.
For all other queries related to the standards and the regulations, please email the Senior
Project Officer at tracey.rankin@dpaw.wa.gov.au or contact the Senior Consultant, Recruitment
and Establishment on (08) 9219 8222.
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