Crown Solicitor’s Office – Legal support review Industrial Relations Commission dispute update – consultation is continuing.
The PSA attended the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) on 30 January 2023 for a report back to IRC Commissioner O’Sullivan regarding the current consultation dispute proceedings, reported on in our last Bulletin to members found HERE.
As previously advised, the PSA filed a dispute notification with the IRC due to the failure of the Crown Solicitor’s Office (CSO) to consult with the PSA in breach Clause 65 of the Crown Employees (Public Service Conditions of Employment) Reviewed Award 2009 (‘the Award’) regarding major organisational changes and restructuring of the CSO arising from the Legal Support Review.
The PSA and the CSO exchanged correspondence and we met on 25 January 2023 in order to discuss member concerns relating to the Legal Support Review. We informed the Commissioner of additional concerns relating to the new structure, including a ‘trickle down’ workload effect due to the existing supervisory functions undertaken by the Assistant Crown Solicitors.
The proceedings were stood over for further Report Back to the IRC on Monday 13 February 2023. However, since then the CSO has provided further correspondence and a timetable for consultation in relation to the Legal Secretarial Role Descriptions. As a result, we agreed to a proposal by the CSO to request the IRC to adjourn the proceedings for further Report Back to enable further consultations to take place. The IRC dispute has now been listed for Report Back on 8 March 2023.
Next steps
The CSO has committed to consulting on the new Secretarial Role Descriptions. The full Consultation timetable proposed by the CSO is HERE, including that the Secretarial Role Descriptions will be open for consultation from 20 February 2023. The PSA will meet with the CSO on 7 March 2023 to discuss member feedback arising from the Legal Support Review.
Should any members wish to provide feedback or concerns in respect of the restructure please contact your PSA Industrial Officer or delegates as below.
Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) meeting
Your PSA delegates and Industrial Officer will meet with CSO management for our first quarterly JCC meeting on Thursday 23 February 2023 to raise workplace issues on behalf of members. The JCC is an important forum for members to have a say in how their workplace is run and therefore if members have any general workplace concerns, please forward them to your PSA Industrial Officer or delegates.
Your PSA Industrial Officer
Your PSA delegates