PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT (MOBILITY) ACT 1989
NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT (MOBILITY) ACT 1989
As in force at 1 May 2016
Table of provisions
1 Short title ......................................................................................... 1
2 Commencement .............................................................................. 1
3 Interpretation ................................................................................... 1
4 Date of commencement in public employment ................................ 2
5 Terms of employment on transfer .................................................... 3
6 Accrued conditions of employment .................................................. 3
7 Return to previous public employer ................................................. 3
8 Compulsory transferees .................................................................. 3
9 Transitional provision in special case .............................................. 3
ENDNOTES
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NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA
____________________
As in force at 1 May 2016
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PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT (MOBILITY) ACT 1989
An Act to enable mobility in employment between certain areas of public
employment in the Territory without loss of accrued conditions of
employment
1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the Public Employment (Mobility)
Act 1989.
2 Commencement
This Act shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by the
Administrator by notice in the Gazette.
3 Interpretation
(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
conditions of employment, in relation to conditions that accrue to
an employee by virtue of service with a public employer, means:
(a) recreation leave, long service leave, or sick leave;
(b) an allowance in the nature of a Northern Territory allowance
(by whatever name called) or for living in or in a particular
place in the Territory;
(c) an airfare entitlement or payment in lieu of an airfare
entitlement; or
(d) automatic increments of salary or wages.
employee means a person who is an employee within the meaning
of the Public Sector Employment and Management Act 1993, a
member of the Police Force, a person otherwise employed by the
Territory, or a person employed in or by a body corporate (other
than a local government council, the Northern Territory Land
Corporation established under the Northern Territory Land
Corporation Act 1989, and the Conservation Land Corporation
established under the Parks and Wildlife Commission Act 1980)
established by a law of the Territory, whether the employee, officer,
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Public Employment (Mobility) Act 1989 2
member, or person was appointed or engaged (or is or was
deemed under any Act, award, determination, or other instrument of
a legislative or administrative character to have been appointed or
engaged) before or after the commencement of this Act, but does
not include the following:
(a) a person employed on a casual or temporary basis or for a
fixed term;
(b) a Local Court Judge;
(c) a Supreme Court Judge.
public employment means:
(a) employment within the Public Sector of the Northern Territory
or the Police Force;
(b) any other employment by the Territory or in or by a body
corporate (other than a local government council, the Northern
Territory Land Corporation established under the Northern
Territory Land Corporation Act 1989, or the Conservation
Land Corporation established under the Parks and Wildlife
Commission Act 1980) established by a law of the Territory; or
(c) employment within the Public Service of the Commonwealth
or an authority of the Commonwealth where the
Commonwealth or that authority granted an employee leave of
absence without pay from that employment in order to take up
public employment under paragraphs (a) or (b),
and public employer has a corresponding meaning.
transfer means the movement of an employee from the
employment of one public employer to the employment of another
public employer.
(2) The Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, declare a person, class,
or category of persons to be a person, class, or category of persons
to which this Act does, or does not, apply.
4 Date of commencement in public employment
(1) Subject to subsection (2), for the purpose of determining the length
of service of a person in public employment the date upon which a
person first commenced duty with a public employer is the date
upon which that person commenced in public employment.
(2) Where a person has been employed by more than one public
employer, the date on which that person first commenced duty in
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Public Employment (Mobility) Act 1989 3
public employment is the earliest date on which that person
commenced duty with a public employer if the period of service with
which, taken with the periods of service with subsequent public
employers, is continuous.
5 Terms of employment on transfer
(1) An employee who applies for a transfer to a permanent vacancy
with a public employer (other than the public employer by which the
employee is currently employed), shall, for the purpose of
determining the terms of employment which are to apply in relation
to that application, be considered to be an employee of the public
employer with which the vacancy exists.
(2) Where an employee transfers or is transferred to another public
employer, and that public employer allows or is required to allow a
right of appeal by an employee against the promotion of another
employee, that right of appeal shall apply in respect of the
transferred employee if the transfer constituted a promotion.
6 Accrued conditions of employment
(1) All conditions of employment that have accrued to an employee at
the time the employee transfers or is transferred to the employment
of another public employer shall accompany and be available to the
employee following that transfer.
(2) All conditions of employment that accrue to an employee following
a transfer shall accrue under terms applicable to employment with
the new public employer.
7 Return to previous public employer
An employee who transfers from one public employer to another
shall have no automatic right to return to the employment of the
previous public employer.
8 Compulsory transferees
An employee to whom Part VI of the Public Service Act 1976 or
Part VI of the Teaching Service Act 1981 applies shall retain such
rights, if any, as are conferred upon the employee by those Acts
notwithstanding that the employee may transfer from the Public
Service or from the Northern Territory Teaching Service to other
public employment.
9 Transitional provision in special case
(1) This section applies to a person who first commenced duty with a
public employer (other than the Power and Water Authority
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Public Employment (Mobility) Act 1989 4
established under the Power and Water Authority Act 1987 or the
Darwin Institute of Technology established under the Advanced
Education and Darwin Institute of Technology Act 1985) between
1 August 1987 and 24 October 1988 (both days inclusive).
(2) Where a person to whom this section applies subsequently
transfers to the Power and Water Authority or to the Darwin Institute
of Technology or, on or after 1 January 1989, the University of the
Northern Territory established under the University of the Northern
Territory Act 1985, then, for the purpose only of determining the
conditions of employment specified in paragraphs (b) and (c) of the
definition of that term in section 3(1), the date on which that person
first commenced duty in public employment shall, notwithstanding
subsection (1) and section 4(2), be deemed to be 25 October 1988.
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ENDNOTES
Public Employment (Mobility) Act 1989 5
ENDNOTES
1 KEY
Key to abbreviations
amd = amended od = order
app = appendix om = omitted
bl = by-law pt = Part
ch = Chapter r = regulation/rule
cl = clause rem = remainder
div = Division renum = renumbered
exp = expires/expired rep = repealed
f = forms s = section
Gaz = Gazette sch = Schedule
hdg = heading sdiv = Subdivision
ins = inserted SL = Subordinate Legislation
lt = long title sub = substituted
nc = not commenced
2 LIST OF LEGISLATION
Public Employment (Mobility) Act 1989 (Act No. 47, 1989)
Assent date 20 September 1989
Commenced 1 November 1989 (Gaz G43, 1 November 1989, p 7)
Local Government (Consequential Amendments) Act 1993 (Act No. 84, 1993)
Assent date 31 December 1993
Commenced 1 June 1994 (s 2, s 2 Local Government Act 1993 (Act
No. 83, 1993) and Gaz S35, 20 May 1994)
Statute Law Revision Act (No. 2) 1995 (Act No. 42, 1995)
Assent date 13 October 1995
Commenced 13 October 1995
Statute Law Revision Act (No. 2) 2004 (Act No. 54, 2004)
Assent date 15 September 2004
Commenced 27 October 2004 (Gaz G43, 27 October 2004, p 3)
Local Government (Consequential Amendments) Act 2008 (Act No. 28, 2008)
Assent date 14 November 2008
Commenced 1 July 2008 (s 2)
Local Government Amendment Act 2014 (Act No. 19, 2014)
Assent date 2 June 2014
Commenced s 16: 1 July 2014; s 18: 1 December 2014; rem: 2 June 2014
(s 2)
Territory Insurance Office (Sale) Act 2014 (Act No. 41, 2014)
Assent date 28 November 2014
Commenced pt 6, divs 1 and 2: nc (exp without commencing);
pt 6, div 3: 00:01hrs 1 January 2015 (Gaz S131,
19 December 2014, p 8); rem: 28 November 2014 (s 2)
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ENDNOTES
Public Employment (Mobility) Act 1989 6
Local Court (Related Amendments) Act 2016 (Act No. 8, 2016)
Assent date 6 April 2016
Commenced 1 May 2016 (s 2, s 2 Local Court (Repeals and Related
Amendments) Act 2016 (Act No. 9, 2016) and Gaz S34,
29 April 2016)
3 GENERAL AMENDMENTS
General amendments of a formal nature (which are not referred to in the table
of amendments to this reprint) are made by the Interpretation Legislation
Amendment Act 2018 (Act No. 22, 2018) to: ss 1, 3, 8 and 9
4 LIST OF AMENDMENTS
s 3 amd No. 84, 1993, s 6; No. 42, 1995, s 5; No. 54, 2004, s 7; No. 28, 2008,
s 3; No. 19, 2014, s 26; No. 41, 2014, s 53; No. 8, 2016, s 45
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