Education (School Administrative and Support Staff) Act 1987

If an allegation is made to the Secretary that a permanent employee may have engaged in any misconduct, the Secretary may decide to do either or both of the following—

deal with the allegation as a disciplinary matter in accordance with the procedural guidelines,

take remedial action with respect to the permanent employee.

After dealing with an allegation of misconduct as a disciplinary matter in accordance with this Part and the procedural guidelines, the Secretary may, if the Secretary is of the opinion that the permanent employee has engaged in any misconduct, decide to take disciplinary action with respect to the permanent employee.

Before any disciplinary action is taken with respect to a permanent employee under this section, the permanent employee must be given an opportunity to make a submission in relation to the disciplinary action that the Secretary is considering taking.

Even though the Secretary decides to deal with an allegation of misconduct as a disciplinary matter in accordance with the procedural guidelines, the Secretary may, at any stage of the process—

decide to take remedial action with respect to the permanent employee concerned as well as dealing with the allegation as a disciplinary matter, or

decide to take remedial action with respect to the employee instead of dealing with the allegation as a disciplinary matter, or

decide to dismiss the allegation, or decide that no further action is to be taken in relation to the matter.

A decision under this section by the Secretary to take remedial action with respect to a permanent employee does not, if it appears to the Secretary that the employee may have engaged in any misconduct while the remedial action is being taken, prevent the Secretary from dealing with the alleged misconduct as a disciplinary matter under this section.