16Merit principles to be applied in employment decisions

16 Merit principles to be applied in employment decisions

16 Merit principles to be applied in employment decisions

(1) This rule applies to any of the following decisions (an employment decision)—

(a) the employment of persons in any kind of employment and the assignment under section 38 or 46 of the Act of persons to roles,

(b) the transfer or secondment of an employee to a Public Service agency from another agency,

(c) the conversion to ongoing employment of an employee’s temporary or term employment.

(2) Any employment decision relating to a role in the Public Service is to be based on an assessment of the capabilities, experience and knowledge of the person concerned against the pre-established standards for the role to determine the person best suited to the requirements of the role and the needs of the relevant Public Service agency.

(2A) If an employment decision is based on a comparative assessment—

(a) the process provided for in rule 17(2) must be completed before the assessors give a report about the assessment (an assessors’ report) to the person who will make the employment decision, and

(b) the assessors’ report must take into account all of the information obtained for the comparative assessment, and

(c) the assessors’ report must—

(i) reflect the consensus of the assessors, or

(ii) in the absence of a consensus—include the recommendation of each assessor.

(2B) Subrule (2A) does not apply to recruitment action commenced before the commencement of the Government Sector Employment (General) Rules (Amendment No 14—Miscellaneous) 2025.

(3) Without limiting subrule (2), the following principles apply in relation to employment decisions—

(a) any recruitment action (whether for ongoing employment, temporary or term employment or casual employment) is to take into account—

(i) long and short term capability needs to meet the objectives of the relevant agency, and

(ii) existing workforce capabilities,