Objectives of Corporation
The Bill removes the objective relating to the provision of advice to the Minister of Housing is dropped from the Bill (Part 1, Clause 4 of the Bill substituting Section 3B of the Act; Clause 5, amending Section 3C(1) of the Act).
Functions of the Corporation
The Bill provides that the Housing Corporation's research and monitoring function does not include research and monitoring for the purpose of advising the Minister of Housing on those matters (Part 1, Clause 6, amending Section 18(2)(j) and repealing Section 18(2)(k)).
Technical redundancy
The Bill provides for the exclusion of entitlement to benefits for a technical redundancy for employees of the Housing Corporation who accept comparable positions in the Department of Building and Housing as a result of the removal from the Housing Corporation of its policy function in relation to housing. In particular, “comparable employment in the Department” means employment in the Department that is-
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“in a suitable alternative position; and
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“in the same general locality; and
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“on terms and conditions of employment that are no less favourable than those that apply to the employee immediately before the offer of employment (including any service-related, redundancy, and superannuation conditions); and
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“on terms that treat the period of service with the Corporation (and any other period of service recognised by the Corporation as continuous service) as if it were continuous service with the Department”.
The Bill provides that Sections 60, 61 and 65 of the State Sector Act 1988 do not apply to the appointment of an employee of the Corporation to a position in the Department under the Bill (Section 60 is headed “Appointments on merit”. Section 61 is headed “Obligation to notify vacancies”. Section 65 is headed “Review of appointments”) (Part 2, Clause 7(1) and (2)).
Comment
The Explanatory note to the Bill states that this provision provides “the standard exclusion of entitlements to benefits for a technical redundancy”
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The State Sector Act 1988 makes similar general provision for transfers between public service organisations, with however some different words used. Instead of the phrase “comparable employment in the department” the State Sector Act 1988 used term “equivalent” employment. That term is defined (in Section 30E(2)) as follows:
“Equivalent employment to the employee's employment in Department A is employment in Department B-
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“(a) in substantially the same position [“suitable alternative position” in the Bill]; and
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“(b) in the same general locality; and
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“(c) on terms and conditions of employment that are no less favourable than those that apply to the employee immediately before the offer of equivalent [the word “equivalent” is omitted from the Bill] employment (including any service-related, redundancy, and superannuation conditions); and
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“(d) on terms that treat the period of service with Department A (and any other period of service recognised by Department A as continuous service) as if it were continuous service with Department B”.
