Ending employment
Published
Resignation is not specifically dealt with under the Public Service Act 1999 (PS Act) or its subordinate legislation. As a result, the common law approach applies to the resignation from Commonwealth employment by all Australian Public Service (APS) employees.
The following information relates to circumstances where an agency head makes a decision to end the employment of an APS employee. This is often called ‘employer-initiated separation’.
Generally, an Australian Public Service (APS) employee may not stand for election to a Commonwealth or State House of Parliament or the Legislative Assembly of the ACT or Northern Territory while still an APS employee.
There are arrangements applying in the Australian Public Service (APS) which limit the subsequent employment of people who have received a redundancy benefit.
An SES employee may resign at any time by notice in writing to the agency head. Generally, notice periods are specified in the employment instrument.