With the past two years and some very intense times behind us, the Public Service Association would like to remind you that your health and wellbeing are as important as those of the young people and families you support.

With that in mind and the current moves for workers to start returning to offices, Central Business Districts and ‘business as usual’ we’re reminding you of current work bans that are in place to support your work/life balance. This will also help shine a light on the shortcomings of the system you work within and put pressure on DCJ to take appropriate steps.

Please take the time to bring yourself back up to date with current work bans and how you can show your support of the PSA in raising awareness.

1. All PSA members are directed not to complete their Performance Development Plan (PDP) including participation in the E-Learning modules, or take part in any Performance Development Program planning or implementation activities.</br>
   The Career Plan section and Performance Development Career Planning Tool are exempt to allow members to include and formalise developmental goals. This is to encourage secondments and acting opportunities. Although the direction allows exemption for Performance Development Career Planning, this does not default to it being mandatory – it is your choice.

2. All PSA members are directed to use the Workload Planner and not accept or allocate cases beyond a worker’s contracted hours or agreed paid overtime hours. Any case that you cannot work on during a four-week Workload Planner period should NOT be allocated to you. This means that if a child/case has zero activity hours in your Workload Planner, that child is not to be allocated to you on ChildStory.
   The PSA is currently advocating for and are in consultation with DCJ on the development of new, up to date and user friendly workload planner and training in its use to assist with implementation.

3. All PSA members are directed not to work excessive and unsafe hours which results in the forfeiture of hours, i.e. working in excess of 14 hours’ credit in any flex period. Members are reminded it is a legal requirement to accurately record all hours on your flex sheet. If you do unpaid work (i.e. overtime that has not been formally approved) over a weekend, then record the dates and hours worked in the section “Certified Correct” on your flex sheet.
   If you are directed to work additional hours, make sure you get formal and documented approval for overtime and remember you are entitled to decline overtime if it is excessive or if you have existing responsibilities.

4. All PSA members are directed to not use the Out of Home Care Audit Tool. The work involved in completing a Quality Review Audit for a child in OOHC is huge, requiring a review of every record on ChildStory as well as any paper files over a 12-month period using the Quality Review Audit Tool Guide. The Guide is 74 pages long, has more than 28,000 words, some 142 indicators of practice and another 400-500 evidence points of compliance.
   Frontline workers, including Managers Client Services, Managers Casework, Caseworkers, Casework Specialists and Casework Support Workers must be freed to support children, families and carers.

5. Child Protection workers* are directed not to undertake redacting of records in response to subpoenas (including summonses and notices to produce) served on the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ).
   Every hour spent redacting records is an hour less working to protect children, support families and managers’ availability to support casework staff. This work should not be undertaken by frontline workers. Please note that this direction only covers the review and redaction of records. The identification and collation of records in compliance with the subpoena will still be managed at the District / CSC level prior to forwarding the un-redacted records to DCJ Legal Services.* Includes Caseworkers, Casework Support Officers, Managers Casework & Managers Client Services

Members are protected when following bans

Members are advised that:

1. This industrial action has been approved by the General Secretary of the Public Service Association of NSW
2. Any direction to perform work covered by these bans can be refused without personal risk

Should members receive any type of threat for refusing to break the bans they should contact their local delegate or the PSA Member Support Centre immediately.

If issues are raised with you about your compliance with the ban, provide the person raising the issues with you with a copy of this bulletin and politely explain that you have been directed by your union not to undertake this work.