Historically, Corrective Service NSW (CSNSW) employees accused of misconduct have experienced significant delays until the matter is resolved, sometimes the process has taken years.  No employee should be subject to the stress and anxiety that such a lengthy and drawn-out process causes.

Yesterday, 22 May 2025, POVB representatives Jim Minns, Keith Smith and Ben Trainor from the Legal Team appeared before Justice Chin in the Industrial Relations Court. Whilst a POVB initiated dispute, it has resulted in all members across CSNSW finally have a misconduct procedure that must be followed.

Justice Chin made a formal recommendation that Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW) must roll out the Managing Misconduct Procedure by 1 July 2025. This means from that date, CSNSW will no longer be allowed to leave you hanging if you are facing a misconduct allegation.

Here’s some of what changes:

A proper triage process – At the initial stage the matter will be reviewed to ensure it if there is a sufficient and proper basis to proceed with misconduct allegations.

No more indefinite silence – If you are accused of misconduct, CSNSW must tell you what the allegation is within 2 to 4 weeks.  And there are set timelines for the remainder of the process.

Access to CCTV – Access to all CCTV footage of the alleged misconduct will be provided to the accused at the time of receiving allegations.

A deadline to completion – Most non-complex misconduct cases must be wrapped up within 16 weeks total, from start to finish.

You must be updated every 30 days – If delays come up, CSNSW have to tell you why, and keep you informed.

No general prohibition on speaking with colleagues when suspended – If you are suspended, you will still be allowed to speak with your colleagues, providing you do not discuss the matter. If CSNSW believe there is a good reason that you cannot speak to specific persons, they must advise you of this.

We look forward to distributing the finalised Procedure as soon as possible.

CSNSW and Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) must follow the procedure. No more dragging things out. No more mystery. Just a fair and transparent process.

This has been a long fight, (eleven months in the industrial relations commission, and twelve years under the government sector employment act) but we never gave up, and today, we won.

If you have ever felt stressed, isolated or kept in the dark during a misconduct process, this win is for you.

It puts power back in your hands and holds management to proper standards.

We’ll keep pushing to make sure these changes are rolled out properly and enforced.

The pain and suffering caused by the PSI process has been difficult to stomach, and absolute credit goes to all of the members for their patience and trust put in the POVB State Executive, Industrial Team and Legal Team in obtaining a result.

None of this could have happened without the commitment of Dave McCauley, Jim Minns, Jason Charlton, Alison McRobert and Ben Trainor who worked tirelessly to help achieve this result for PSA members.