5Circumstances where a person has, and has not, persistently committed mutual obligation failures

5 Circumstances where a person has, and has not, persistently committed mutual obligation failures

Circumstances where a person has persistently committed mutual obligation failures (1) For the purposes of paragraph 42AF(2)(a) of the Act, the Secretary must be satisfied that a person has persistently committed mutual obligation failures if: (a) the relevant failure was committed within 3 active months beginning on a day worked out under subsections (2) or (3); or (b) in the 3 active months prior to the relevant failure, the person has committed at least 1 mutual obligation failure without a reasonable excuse where the Secretary was satisfied that the person had persistently committed mutual obligation failures. (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), and subject to subsection (3), if, in any 6 active months: (a) a person commits: (i) at least 5 mutual obligation failures to which a demerit is attached; or (ii) 2, 3 or 4 mutual obligation failures to which a demerit is attached, where at least 1 of those mutual obligation failures was: (A) failing to attend a job interview; or (B) failing to act on a job opportunity when requested to do so by an employment services provider; or (C) the person intentionally acting in a manner and it is reasonably foreseeable that acting in that manner could result in an offer of employment not being made to the person; and (b) the person undergoes a DHS assessment; then the day is the day on which the DHS assessment is complete. (3) For the purposes of subsection (1), and despite subsection (2), if, in any 6 active months, the circumstances set out in either: (a) subparagraph 5(2)(a)(i) and subsection 5(2)(b); or (b) subparagraph 5(2)(a)(ii) and subsection 5(2)(b); apply to a person, but one or more of the person’s demerits is reversed after the person undergoes the DHS assessment, and the person subsequently commits one or more mutual obligation failures to which a demerit is attached that is not subsequently reversed, then the day is the day upon which the person commits: (c) the fifth mutual obligation failure in 6 active months to which a demerit is attached that is not subsequently reversed; or (d) the second, third or fourth mutual obligation failure in 6 active months to which a demerit is attached that is not subsequently reversed, where at least 1 of the mutual obligation failures recorded in the Employment Department’s Information Technology System is of the kind described in subparagraphs 5(2)(a)(ii)(A), (B) or (C). (4) For the purposes of this section, a demerit is reversed if it is removed from the Employment Department’s Information Technology System, including because: (a) it was recorded in respect of a mutual obligation failure by a person who subsequently underwent a DHS assessment, and the outcome of the DHS assessment was that the person’s employment pathway plan was not suitable for the person; (b) it was recorded in respect of a mutual obligation failure by a person who subsequently underwent a capability assessment with their employment services provider, and the outcome of that assessment was that the person’s employment pathway plan was not suitable for the person; (c) it was recorded in respect of a mutual obligation failure by a person and the person was subsequently found to have had a valid reason for committing the failure; or (d) it was recorded in error.