GSE Regulation and GSE Rules

The GSE Regulation is a statutory instrument made by the Governor of NSW and has the force of law.

The GSE Regulation includes provisions relating to the Public Service, specifically:

• general provisions relating to employment such as employees undertaking other paid work, reporting charges and convictions for serious offences and reporting bankruptcy
• general conditions of employment such as public holidays, absences, increments and fitness for duty noting that these provisions are subject to industrial instruments
• leave entitlements such as for extended leave, leave for senior executives and cashing-out of accrued leave on becoming a senior executive
• allowances such as for temporary assignments.

It also includes provisions that relate to the government sector more broadly, such as:

• re-payment of severance or redundancy payment in certain instances
• additional contract matters for senior executives
• allowances for senior executives
• compensation on termination for senior executives
• cross-government sector leave arrangements such as recognition of prior service for extended leave, annual leave, sick leave, parental leave and funding of entitlements
• extended leave entitlements
• recognition of former government service
• workforce diversity, prescribing various universities, for the purposes of section 63 workforce diversity provisions
• deductions from salaries for rent.

The GSE Rules are made by the Public Service Commissioner and deal with a range of matters including:

• general Public Service employment provisions concerning probation periods, citizenship or residency requirements, formal qualifications, security and other clearances, health assessments, the maximum period of temporary employment, temporary assignments, conversion to on-going employment, excess non-executive employees and termination of employment
• merit-based employment requirements for the Public Service including merit principles and their application in employment decisions
• workforce diversity covering the employment of eligible persons and the provision of diversity information 
• transfers and secondments covering the movement of employees from one agency to another on an ongoing or temporary basis
• performance management covering the core requirements of performance management systems and for dealing with unsatisfactory performance
• procedural requirements for dealing with allegations of misconduct by an employee of a government sector agency (excluding NSW Police Force)
• additional provisions relating to Public Service senior executives including mandatory model contracts.

The employment arrangements of senior executives in the Police Force, Health Service and Transport Service and non-executive administrative employees of the Police Force are aligned to those of the Public Service through similar rules: