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McKay may be forced to resign without benefits
By ROD CAMPBELL
The former Secretary of the Department of Health,
Mr Bernie McKay, who announced this week that he
would not accept an Associate Secretary job in the
new Department of Community Services and
Health, may be forced to resign from the Public
Service without any redundancy benefits.
Doubts exist whether Mr McKay can "declare"
himself redundant simply by giving up the position
assigned to him by the Government, thereby entit-
ling him to redundancy benefits if the Government
or the Public Service Board cannot find him another
appropriate position. Instead, he may be obliged to
resign from the Public Service altogether or stay on as
Associate Secretary.
Mr McKay said this week that he would not take
the Associate Secretary job because of problems asso-
ciated with the amalgamation of functions from the
former Departments of Community Services, Health
and Housing and Construction. He had been ap-
pointed to act as Secretary of the department until
Mr Tony Ayers, the permanent appointee, finished
his work with Mr David Block's Efficiency Scrutiny
Unit. But now Mr Ayers will take over on Monday,
and Mr McKay's future remains up in the air.
Under the Public Service Act, departmental Secre-
taries (including an unattached one, as Mr McKay is)
can leave their job by resigning from the Public
Scrvice, by retiring at age 55 or over, by being retired
on the grounds of inefficiency or incapacity, or by
having their appointment terminated by the Govern-
ment and later being compulsorily retired because
they cannot be placed in an appropriate position. It is
only through this form of compulsory retirement that
they can qualify for the redundancy package.
In Mr McKay's case, his appointment as Secretary
of Health was terminated by the Government and he
became an unattached Secretary, thereby satisfying
Section 76E of the Act. But the Government then
assigned him to perform the duties of Associate
Secretary in Community Services and Health, pend-
ing the formal creation of that (and other) Associate
Secretaries in September. It cannot be said, therefore,
that Mr McKay has been made redundant and there-
fore can expect another placement or compulsory
retirement if another position cannot be found. He
has become "redundant" by his own actions.
There is, however, a precedent of sorts for what is
happening. In 1984, the then Secretary of the Depart-
ment of Foreign Affairs, Mr Peter Henderson, "re-
signed" (or stood down) from that position and, after
a suitable placement in a senior diplomatic post was
not forthcoming, resigned from the Public Service
with a $52,700 redundancy payment, plus superan-
nuation and accrued leave entitlements.
Mr Henderson regarded his departure from the
department as a "resignation", but others say the
circumstances of his standing down, after five years
in the job, were such that the Government treated the
matter as a redeployment-retirement case under Sec-
tion 76F of the Act.
Whether the Government treats Mr McKay the
same way, or asks him to resign completely, is anoth-
er matter. It already has one surplus Secretary, Mr
Charles Halton, formerly of Communications, doing
work for a senior minister but without a permanent
job to go to. Another, Dr William Tegart, formerly of
Science, is occupying what was the Level 3 Senior
Executive Service job of Secretary of the Australian
Science and Technology Council (at the expense of
its permanent occupant, Dr B. S. Middleton, who
has been compulsorily moved to Industry, Technolo-
gy and Commerce). It would probably prefer not to
have another surplus Secretary to place.
Departments to take quota from PSB
Board warns on
redeployment
By ROD CAMPBELL
Government departments will be obliged
to accept a minimum number of staff made
surplus by the Public Service restructuring
between now and September and may be
forced to do so, through the blocking of ap-
pointments and promotions, if they do not
cooperate.
"Hie warning that the Public Service Board
will get tough and force departments to look
after redeployed public servants, both from
its own ranks and from elsewhere, was
contained in a circular to PSB staff issued
yesterday.
Departments will be asked to ensure that,
in filling vacant positions, preference is given
to the transfer of displaced staff rather than to
promotions or outside appointments. They
will be reminded that the PSB has the power
to cancel provisional promotions or to stop
appointments where this policy is not fol-
lowed by departments.
The acting chairman of the PSB, Mr John
Enfield, will be writing to departmental secre-
taries seeking their cooperation in ensuring
the quick and smooth redeployment of the
300 PSB staff who will need to be found jobs.
A committee representing the PSB and the
Departments of the Prime Minister and Cabi-
net, Finance and Industrial Relations has
been established to ensure that the staff re-
ductions affecting most departments are
achieved smoothly and without compulsory
redundancies. The committee has worked out
Public Service-wide redeployment arrange-
ments which have been approved by the
Government.
Under the arrangements, Finance and the
PSB will work out how many redeployed
people each department should be able to
absorb during the next 12 months. They will
then be required to accept responsibility for
absorbing a minimum number of displaced
staff, calculated to guarantee placement op-
portunitics for everyone. These minimum
numbers will be in the form of quotas.
Departments will be encouraged to fill
their quotas by making voluntary offers to
people who need redeployment. Those which
have not met their quota of PSB staff by
September will be "required" to do so. This
will be done by matching unplaced staff
against jobs in new home departments, pre-
sumably whether departments like it or not.
If this approach docs not work, the PSB's
power to block promotions and appoint-
ments might be exercised.
The PSB has also given its staff details of
how their redeployments, if needed, will be
handled. The PSB's approach may well be-
come the model for other government depart-
ments.
The process will include consultations with
the unions next week (after information on
the numbers and classifications of staff likely
to be found jobs in the proposed Public Ser-
vice Commissioner's office has been worked
out) and the filling of those positions primari-
ly by transfering staff to their existing posi-
tions rather than by promoting others.
The placement of surplus staff in other
departments would not happen all at once,
but over a period of a couple of months. In
the meantime, there would be plenty of work
to be done at the PSB, the staff circular says.
Existing arrangements for permanent
part-time workers destined to join the new
commissioner's office would continue and
the PSB would seek similar arrangements for
those going to other departments. The ques-
tion of income maintenance for staff on
long-term higher duties had not been final-
ised.
The circular discloses also that the PSB's
premises in the McLachlan offices will proba-
bly be occupied by the commissioner's office
and the Department of the Prime Minister
and Cabinet.
PS social workers threaten strike.
— Page 7
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