{"id":"F2020L00418","name":"Public Service (Terms and Conditions of Employment) (General wage increase deferrals during the COVID-19 pandemic) Determination 2020","slug":"public-service-terms-and-conditions-of-employment-general-wage-increase-deferrals-during-the-covid-1","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":440446,"registerId":"F2020L00418-fast-fetch-1775956064139","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Public Service (Terms and Conditions of Employment) (General wage increase deferrals during the COVID-19 pandemic) Determination 2020","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n![Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia](image.001.jpeg)\n\n \n\nPublic Service (Terms and Conditions of Employment) (General wage increase deferrals during the COVID‑19 pandemic) Determination 2020\n\nI, Ben Morton, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, make the following determination.\n\nDated 9 April 2020\n\nBen Morton\n\nAssistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Cabinet  Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\n1 Name\n\n2 Commencement\n\n3 Authority\n\n4 Definitions\n\n5 Application of this instrument to certain non‑SES employees\n\n6 Terms and conditions of employment—deferral for 6 months of certain increases in salary and allowances\n\n7 Kinds of increases in salary and allowances that will be deferred etc.\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n1  Name\n\n  This instrument is the Public Service (Terms and Conditions of Employment) (General wage increase deferrals during the COVID-19 pandemic) Determination 2020.\n\n2  Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n \n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provisions Commencement Date/Details\n- 1. The whole of this instrument 14 April 2020. 14 April 2020\n\n\nNote: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.\n\n3  Authority\n\n  This instrument is made under subsection 24(3) of the Public Service Act 1999.\n\n4  Definitions\n\nNote: A number of expressions used in this instrument are defined in the Act, including the following:\n\n(a) enterprise agreement;\n\n(b) non‑SES employee.\n\n  In this instrument:\n\nAct means the Public Service Act 1999.\n\nindividual flexibility arrangement has the same meaning as in the Fair Work Act 2009.\n\nnon‑SES employee’s classification has the meaning given by section 5.\n\nqualifying period means the 12‑month period starting on 14 April 2020.\n\n5  Application of this instrument to certain non‑SES employees\n\n  This instrument applies to a non‑SES employee who is of a classification (the non‑SES employee’s classification) that is not any of the following classifications:\n\n (a) Antarctic Medical Practitioner Level 3;\n\n (b) Chief of Division Grade 1, 2 or 3;\n\n (c) Chief Research Scientist Grade 1 or 2;\n\n (d) Medical Officer Class 5 or 6;\n\n (e) DAFF Band 4.\n\n6  Terms and conditions of employment—deferral for 6 months of certain increases in salary and allowances\n\n  The terms and conditions of employment applying to the non‑SES employee include the condition that any increase that:\n\n (a) is of a kind covered by subsection 7(1); and\n\n (b) apart from this instrument, would take effect on a day in the qualifying period;\n\ninstead takes effect as soon as practicable after the end of the 6‑month period starting on that day.\n\nExample 1: If the increase was a lump sum, the lump sum will likely be paid on the first pay day after the 6‑month period.\n\nExample 2: If the increase was an ongoing increase to a periodic payment, the first of those payments that includes the increase will likely be the first one after the 6‑month period. That first payment will not include any lump sum equal to back pay for the 6‑month period.\n\n7  Kinds of increases in salary and allowances that will be deferred etc.\n\nKinds of increases in salary and allowances that will be deferred\n\n (1) For the purposes of paragraph 6(a), the kinds of increases are as follows:\n\n (a) an increase in the salary for the non‑SES employee’s classification;\n\n (b) an increase in an allowance for the non‑SES employee’s classification that takes effect on the same day, and at the same rate, as an increase in the salary for the non‑SES employee’s classification;\n\n (c) an increase in the non‑SES employee’s salary that takes effect under an individual flexibility arrangement agreed with the non‑SES employee that, because of paragraph 202(2)(b) of the Fair Work Act 2009, is a term of an enterprise agreement that applies to the non‑SES employee;\n\n (d) an increase in an allowance for the non‑SES employee that:\n\n (i) takes effect under an individual flexibility arrangement agreed with the non‑SES employee that, because of paragraph 202(2)(b) of the Fair Work Act 2009, is a term of an enterprise agreement that applies to the non‑SES employee; and\n\n (ii) takes effect on the same day, and at the same rate, as an increase in the non‑SES employee’s salary under that enterprise agreement.\n\n (2) To avoid doubt, the kinds of individual flexibility arrangements covered by paragraphs (1)(c) and (d) include each of the following:\n\n (a) an individual flexibility arrangement agreed to before the qualifying period;\n\n (b) an individual flexibility arrangement for which paragraph 7(2)(d) of the Public Service (Terms and Conditions of Employment) (Services Australia—Non‑SES Employees) Determination 2020 applies.\n\nNote: An increase under these individual flexibility arrangements will only be covered if the increase would (apart from this instrument) take effect during the qualifying period.\n\nKinds of increases in salary and allowances that will not be deferred\n\n (3) Subsection (1) does not cover any of the following kinds of increases:\n\n (a) an increase in the non‑SES employee’s salary that takes effect because of a variation of a rate of salary set out in an award;\n\n (b) an increase in the non‑SES employee’s salary or allowances that takes effect because the non‑SES employee starts performing duties on a temporary or ongoing basis:\n\n (i) at a higher classification; or\n\n (ii) at a classification mentioned in any of paragraphs 5(a) to (e);\n\n (c) an increase in the non‑SES employee’s salary or allowances that takes effect because of a performance‑based progression within the non‑SES employee’s classification;\n\n (d) an increase in the non‑SES employee’s salary or allowances that takes effect because of the completion of a training program or the obtaining of a qualification.\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"This instrument temporarily changes the timing (but not the quantum) of specified salary and allowance increases for affected non‑SES employees by deferring their operative date for six months when those increases would otherwise take effect during the qualifying period (ss.6–7). It narrows the deferral’s reach by excluding particular classifications and by exempting increases from awards, promotions, performance progression, and training/qualification completion (s.5; s.7(3))."},"complexity_factors":["Cross‑references to multiple instruments and statutes (Public Service Act 1999; Fair Work Act 2009; other Determinations) which require reading external sources (ss.3, 4, 7).","Conditional application: applies to most non‑SES employees but excludes specified classifications (s.5).","Temporal rule: deferral applies only to increases that would take effect during the defined qualifying period and shifts their effective date by six months (s.6).","Different treatment of lump sums versus ongoing periodic payments and explicit non‑entitlement to back‑pay for deferred periodic payments (s.6, examples).","Complexity around individual flexibility arrangements and which of those are captured (s.7(1)(c),(d) and 7(2)).","Multiple exclusions that carve out award variations, promotions, performance‑based progressions and training/qualification completions, requiring employers to classify the reason for each increase (s.7(3)).","Administrative and payroll implementation burdens on agencies to identify affected employees, adjust pay timing, and document that increases fall inside or outside the deferral rules (s.6–7)."],"plain_english_summary":"This determination delays certain pay and allowance increases for most non‑SES Commonwealth public servants by six months if those increases would have taken effect during the 12‑month qualifying period starting 14 April 2020. Agencies must implement the deferral (s.6); periodic payments are paid only after the deferral with no back‑pay for the deferred months, and listed classifications and several types of increases (award variations, promotions, performance progression, training completions) are excluded (s.5, s.7)."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is a targeted, time-limited emergency instrument with a narrow, specific purpose: deferring wage increases during the COVID-19 pandemic. The scope remains tightly constrained to this original intent, with explicit carve-outs for senior specialists and clear exclusions for performance-based and promotion-related increases. No evidence of scope creep."},"complexity_factors":["Short instrument: only 7 sections spanning approximately 3 pages","Limited defined terms: only 4 explicit definitions in section 4, plus references to defined terms in the parent Act","Simple conditional structure: single main operative provision (section 6) with straightforward 'if-then' logic","Clear exclusions: section 7(3) provides an explicit 'laundry list' of 4 exceptions rather than nested conditional logic","Minimal cross-referencing: only references to the Public Service Act 1999, Fair Work Act 2009, and one other determination","Worked examples provided: sections 6 and 7(2) include concrete examples to aid interpretation","Temporal scope clearly bounded: single 12-month qualifying period with fixed start date (14 April 2020)"],"plain_english_summary":"This Determination temporarily delays scheduled pay increases for most Australian Public Service employees by six months if they were due between 14 Apr 2020 and 13 Apr 2021. It covers most non‑SES staff but excludes certain senior technical and medical specialists. The deferral applies to general wage rises, matching allowances and some individual flexibility increases, but not to awards, promotions, performance progression or qualification-based increases. It was an emergency cost-saving move during COVID — raises arrived later, without back‑pay."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/public-service-terms-and-conditions-of-employment-general-wage-increase-deferrals-during-the-covid-1","history":"/api/acts/public-service-terms-and-conditions-of-employment-general-wage-increase-deferrals-during-the-covid-1/history","analysis":"/api/acts/public-service-terms-and-conditions-of-employment-general-wage-increase-deferrals-during-the-covid-1/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/public-service-terms-and-conditions-of-employment-general-wage-increase-deferrals-during-the-covid-1/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/public-service-terms-and-conditions-of-employment-general-wage-increase-deferrals-during-the-covid-1/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/public-service-terms-and-conditions-of-employment-general-wage-increase-deferrals-during-the-covid-1/documents"}}