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

Yesterday, Jim Minns, Keith Smith and Ben Trainor from the legal Team appeared before Justice Chin in the Industrial Relations Court.

Justice Chin made a formal recommendation that 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.

Changes include:

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 two to four 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 has 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 believse there is a good reason that you cannot speak to specific persons, the organisation must advise you of this.

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

And that’s not all.

We also have an in-principle agreement to amend to the Correctional Officers Award to include reference to the misconduct procedure. This includes the timeframes. This gives more surety that failure to adhere to the procedure can be enforced.

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

This has been a long fight: 11 months in the Industrial Relations Commission and 12 years under the Government Sector Employment Act. But we never gave up, and today, we won.

If you’ve 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 Professional Standards and Investigations process has been difficult to stomach. Absolute credit goes to all of the members for their patience and trust put in the Prison Officer Vocational Branch State Executive in obtaining a result.

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

In union,
Keith Smith
Chairperson
Prison Officers Vocational Branch