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Re-engagement Following Redundancy or Early Retirement Policy

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Section 1 - Purpose

(1) This Policy outlines principles relating to the re-engagement of staff whose employment with the university has ceased or is ceasing due to voluntary or involuntary redundancy, or retirement following participation in a voluntary Early Retirement Scheme (ERS).

(2) The University has an expectation that a staff member's engagement with the University will cease on a permanent basis on taking a redundancy or a voluntary Early Retirement Scheme benefit.

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Section 2 - Application

(3) This Policy applies to all academic, professional and senior staff, excluding staff employed on a casual/sessional basis and staff on Pre-retirement Employment Arrangements Policy.

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Section 3 - Roles and Responsibilities

Position	Responsibility
Vice-President (People) and Chief People Officer	Determines whether exceptional circumstances exist to justify a staff member’s re-engagement within 12 months of separation. Reports to the Vice-Chancellor and President if a staff member is re-engaged within 12 months of separation due to exceptional circumstances.

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Section 4 - Re-engagement

(4) A staff member who is made redundant or accepts a voluntary Early Retirement Scheme benefit will not be eligible for ongoing, fixed-term or casual/sessional employment for a period of 12 months from the date of separation. This restriction includes engagement as an independent consultant or under a company name or partnership.

(5) A staff member may be re-engaged in exceptional circumstances. Any such instances will be reported to the Vice-Chancellor and President. In determining the matter of exceptional circumstances, and whether a staff member who has separated through redundancy or voluntary Early Retirement Scheme may be re-engaged within 12 months from the date of separation, the Vice-President (People) and Chief People Officer will take into account the following:

the specific skills, experience and/or qualifications required for performance of the duties of a particular position;
the steps that the organisational area has taken to fill the employment opportunity (extent of advertising, etc);
whether there are any other suitable candidates for the position;
the type and level of benefit received by the staff member when they separated from the University; and
any other relevant factors.

(6) The staff member is responsible for understanding any taxation implications (including penalties) which may arise as a result of re-engagement following receipt of a redundancy or voluntary Early Retirement Scheme benefit.

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Section 5 - Definitions

Term	Definition
Redundancy	Means a situation where a position occupied by an ongoing or fixed-term staff member is identified as surplus to the university’s requirements for reasons of an economic, technological, structural or similar nature in accordance with the relevant enterprise agreement or the Voluntary and Involuntary Redundancy Policy - Senior Staff. A staff member who accepts redundancy will receive a benefit according to the relevant enterprise agreement or the Voluntary and Involuntary Redundancy Policy - Senior Staff.
Early Retirement Scheme	Means a scheme initiated by the university and approved by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) providing for voluntary early retirement of a specified class of employees with a view to rationalising or reorganising the operations of the employer. Staff aged under 65 at the date of retirement are entitled to special concessional tax rates as prescribed by the ATO.

Term

Definition

Redundancy

Means a situation where a position occupied by an ongoing or fixed-term staff member is identified as surplus to the university’s requirements for reasons of an economic, technological, structural or similar nature in accordance with the relevant enterprise agreement or the Voluntary and Involuntary Redundancy Policy - Senior Staff. A staff member who accepts redundancy will receive a benefit according to the relevant enterprise agreement or the Voluntary and Involuntary Redundancy Policy - Senior Staff.

Early Retirement Scheme

Means a scheme initiated by the university and approved by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) providing for voluntary early retirement of a specified class of employees with a view to rationalising or reorganising the operations of the employer. Staff aged under 65 at the date of retirement are entitled to special concessional tax rates as prescribed by the ATO.

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Section 6 - Exceptions to Policy

(7) The Vice-President (People) and Chief People Officer is authorised to approve variations to this policy in exceptional circumstances. Any such variation will be recorded by Human Resources.