Two requests to advance within a broadband

Case study 1

In this case, an employee applied to advance, within their broadband, from APS level 3 to APS level 4. The application was denied.

The agency’s policy and guidelines required the supervisor to assess the employee’s application within 21 days. However, in this case, the agency took almost one year to consider the employee’s application. In our view, this was an unreasonable delay. A number of changes occurred within that year which the agency attributed the delay to, however in our view, the assessment process was relatively simple and routine, and could have been done in the 21 day time limit.

When the agency did ultimately assess the employee’s application, they took into account subsequent events including diminished output due to a change in the employee’s duties whilst the employee was learning a new role.  In our view, this approach was unfair to the employee and we considered the agency should have assessed the employee against their performance at the time of their application (or within 21 days) and not on the job requirements that were in place almost one year later, after the employee had changed roles.

When we looked at the evidence, we found the employee had met all the requirements at the time they lodged their application. This included that they demonstrated appropriate capability at the higher APS4 level and met all the other requirements to advance.

We recommended the agency set aside the decision, and recommended the employee be approved for broadband advancement. We recommended this be backdated to the time when it should have been assessed, which was 21 days from the date of the application. The agency agreed to this recommendation.

Case study 2

In this case, an employee applied to their agency to advance to a higher classification, as they considered they were employed in a broadbanded role. The agency declined the application because the employee was not  employed in a 'job family' that allowed for broadband advancement. The agency’s Enterprise Agreement stated that broadband advancement only occurred in certain job families, such as technical or professional roles. This meant that employees in generalist roles were not eligible for broadband advancement. 

On review, we considered whether the employee was eligible for advancement within a broadband. The Enterprise Agreement and agency policy had four requirements that an employee must meet to be eligible. These were:

• the employee held a role that was eligible for broadband advancement
• the employee demonstrated role-related capabilities at the higher level
• there was work available at the higher level
• the employee’s performance was satisfactory or better.

On reviewing all of the evidence, we determined the employee did not satisfy each of these requirements. Firstly, the employee's role was not eligible for broadband advancement, and secondly, there was no work available at the higher level at that time. We therefore recommended the agency decision be confirmed as the employee was not eligible for advancement.