Members may have seen a communication from the Acting Secretary Catherine D’Elia yesterday afternoon, releasing the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) Vaccination Policy. The PSA was NOT informed that the policy was finalised and ready for distribution, nor were we provided any response to our feedback to the draft policy, or a copy of the policy at all. Members have reported that their line managers have advised that the PSA has signed off on the policy. This is not the case.

The PSA met with DCJ representatives on Wednesday 6 October 2021 to discuss the Draft DCJ Vaccination Policy. Following this meeting, the PSA provided feedback in writing on Friday 8 October.  You can view this feedback in full HERE.

The Department contacted the PSA yesterday afternoon (18 October) to advise that the Acting Secretary was sending advice to all staff about the policy. This was despite the fact they had not yet responded to the PSA.

We have been advised verbally that some of our feedback has been incorporated but at time of publishing this bulletin, we still don’t have a response to our concerns.

The Department has also not even begun consultation around the guidelines to be published with the policy.

Below are a few frequently asked questions, which will be updated pending communication from DCJ.

• I do not want to take the vaccines available, will the PSA support me?

The PSA can assist members who cannot comply with the vaccination mandate. However, the industrial options available will heavily rely on the circumstances in each individual case. For the sake of clarity, if an individual simply does not want to be vaccinated at all, the current clear legal advice is that the direction to be vaccinated is a reasonable and lawful one, and the member will most likely have disciplinary action taken against them for failing to follow a reasonable and lawful direction. Recent cases in both the Fair Work Commission, and the Supreme Court have upheld decisions to dismiss employees in similar situations, although each case needs to be judged on its individual circumstances and merits.

• What if I want to take leave until Novavax is available?

While the PSA has been advocating for members who wish to remove themselves from the workplace, and therefor remove themselves from the risk, by using their accumulated leave if they wish, the email yesterday from the Acting Secretary indicates that staff who do not comply, and who do not have an approved medical or other exemption, will not be able to work and will need to take leave whilst a code of conduct process is initiated. The PSA encourages members to have a discussion with their doctor if they haven’t already done so surrounding the three vaccines currently available.

• How can DCJ direct me to take leave and initiate code of conduct processes at the same time?

The Department has not explained under what authority they are relying to force people to take their own leave while they initiate code of conduct processes.

• What if I have a medical contraindication?

The PSA’s position is that the medical contraindication exempts the individual from the policy. No disciplinary action should be taken against individuals with an accepted medical contraindication.

Next steps

The PSA will update the membership when a reply is received to our feedback. In the meantime, the PSA encourages our members to seek information from their doctor regarding vaccines available.