Legal Aid HR Common Selection Criteria     What are Common Selection Criteria? When you work with the NSW Government, you also act as a representative for the Government. Government workers are expected to behave fairly and equitably when carrying out their duties and dealing with the public and fellow employees. For this reason, job applicants must have knowledge and understanding of the following topics, which are Common Selection Criteria for all jobs with the NSW Government. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Ethical Practice Ethnic Affairs Priorities Statement (EAPS) Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) 1) Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) EEO is about: making sure that workplaces are free from all forms of unlawful discrimination and harassment providing programs to assist members of EEO groups to overcome disadvantage. Under the Anti-discrimination Act 1977, it is unlawful in NSW for any employer to treat someone unfairly or harass them because of their age sex pregnancy disability race, colour, ethnic or ethno-religious background, descent or nationality marital status gender identification Every NSW government agency has an EEO coordinator who can assist you with information, questions or suggestions you may have about EEO. You can find additional information on EEO in the public sector at www.premiers.nsw.gov.au or www.eeo.nsw.gov.au 2) Ethical Practice It is the public duty of everyone who works for the NSW Government to work ethically and act in good faith in the public interest. Every NSW Government agency has a Code of Conduct that tells employees how to behave ethically. This is called “ethical practice”. The Legal Aid Commission’s Code of Conduct says that employees must conduct their duties impartially, with integrity and in the best interest of the Commission. The Independent Commission Against Corruption has developed principles to help government employees make better decisions and resolve ethical dilemmas that they face at work. They are: Serving public above private interest When making decisions, employees should not consider their private or personal interests but must make decisions and take actions that best serve the public interest. Integrity Government employees should ensure that any decision made, or action taken, has the qualities of openness honesty accountability objectivity courage Leadership Through their own ethical behaviour, employees should demonstrate the value of these principles in serving the public interest. 3) Ethnic Affairs Priorities Statement (EAPS) The population of NSW is made up of people from a range of cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds. This cultural diversity should be respected and accommodated by agencies when they plan their corporate objectives. Ethnic affairs policies and programs in the NSW Public Sector are based on four principles of cultural diversity. These principles are listed below. All individuals in NSW should have the greatest possible opportunity to contribute to, and participate in, all aspects of public life. All individuals and public institutions should respect and accommodate the culture, language and religion of others within an Australian legal and institutional framework where English is the primary language. All individuals should have the greatest possible opportunity to make use of, and participate in, relevant activities and programs provided or administered by the Government of NSW. All public institutions of NSW should recognise the linguistic and cultural assets in the population of NSW as a valuable resource and promote this resource to maximise the development of the State. The Ethnic Affairs Priorities Statement program requires all NSW government agencies to develop an Ethnic Affairs Priority Statement (EAPS) and report on their EAPS progress and future strategies in their annual report. EAPS’ will say what strategies the agency is using to achieve and measure outcomes in areas of: social justice community harmony economic and cultural opportunities. You can find additional information on EAPS in the public sector at www.eac.nsw.com.au 4) Occupational Health, Safety and rehabilitation (OHS&R) The NSW Occupational Health and Safety Act 1983 aims to protect the health, safety and welfare of people at work. It lays down general requirements that must be met by employees, employers and self-employed people at all places of work in NSW. Employees must: take reasonable care of the health and safety of others cooperate with employers in their efforts to comply with occupational health and safety requirements. Employers must: act to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees provide and maintain safe places of work, equipment and systems of work under the Act. All persons must not: interfere with or misuse things provided for the health, safety or welfare of persons at work obstruct attempts to give aid or attempts to prevent a serious risk to the health and safety of a person at work refuse a reasonable request to assist in giving aid or preventing a risk to health and safety. Health and safety committees must be established in workplaces with 20 or more people, where the majority of employees request it. The Act makes it unlawful to dismiss an employee for being an occupational health and safety committee member or for performing his or her duties as a committee member. It also makes it unlawful to dismiss any employee for making a complaint about a health and safety matter. WorkCover Inspectors are given inspection powers for the purposes of the Act, including the taking of samples, and the carrying out of a range of tests. Inspectors can be accompanied by an employees’ representative during an inspection, if required. You can find additional information on OHS&R in the public sector at www.premiers.nsw.gov.au

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The information contained on this page is not legal advice. If you have a legal problem you should talk to a lawyer before making a decision about what to do. The information on this page is written for people resident in, or affected by, the laws of New South Wales, Australia only.