With the federal budget imminent, there is growing concern about the prospect of increasing redundancies in the Australian Public Service. Despite the Albanese government campaigning against the then-Dutton opposition's plans to slash the APS at the last election, a requirement for APS-wide efficiencies has seen a number of central agencies offer voluntary redundancies.

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While it remains to be seen what the budget will hold, a fiscally constrained year ahead seems likely for the APS. The public sector union, the CPSU, has been vocal in expressing concern about job cuts across the service.

So what do federal public servants need to know about their workplace rights, lest they find themselves on the agency chopping block?

The starting point, as always, is the Public Service Act 1999, the legislation which governs public sector employment.

Section 29 of that law provides significant discretion for dismissing employees; it says that an agency head "may at any time, by notice in writing, terminate the employment of an APS employee in the Agency."

The provision then sets out the grounds for termination, which, in addition to things like breaches of the APS Code of Conduct and under performance, include "the employee is excess to the requirements of the Agency".

The next place to look is the enterprise agreement of the relevant agency. We will use the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) as an example. Due to common term bargaining across the APS, most enterprise agreements across the public service are very similar.

So far, most redundancies have been voluntary - we are yet to see widespread involuntary redundancies. Voluntary redundancy requirements at DCCEEW are set out in the enterprise agreement.

A delegate can invite an employee declared excess to requirements to consider voluntary redundancy; the employee will then have a month to consider. The........

© Canberra Times