Introduction
An excess staff situation arises where a school has a greater number of employees than is necessary as identified in the school's preferred staffing profile. An excess staff situation may also arise due to technological change, changes to educational programs or other changes in work methods, or changes in the nature, extent or organisation of the functions of the school.
An excess staff situation may occur where funding within the Student Resource Package (SRP) is insufficient to cover the salaries of all employees at the school. The workforce plan should be used to determine whether the school is likely to have an excess staff situation. Where a salary deficit is indicated in the SRP management report (that is, there are insufficient funds available to meet salary commitments) the principal should develop a deficit management strategy with the aim of eliminating the deficit in the shortest possible time.
To avoid the need to identify employees as excess, principals may put in place a range of alternative strategies, consistent with the workforce plan, such as the reorganisation of duties of employees within the school, investigating any possible reductions in time fractions, approving leave applications, or by negotiating the temporary transfer of an employee to another school.
Unless specifically indicated, the procedures in this document apply to all employees in schools. The processes describe the arrangements for the management and resolution of excess staff situations in schools. These processes do not apply to the following categories of employees:
- fixed term employees, other than in exceptional cases
- casual employees
- school council employees (employed under section 2.3 of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006)
- employees in the principal class
- employees currently in the probationary period of their employment
The responsibility for the identification of excess staff and the management of these employees rests with the principal. The responsibility for the identification of employees who may be subject to retrenchment rests with the Department. In managing excess staff situations principals must ensure:
- fair treatment of affected employees
- that the process is not used as a substitute for the procedures for managing unsatisfactory performance or the discipline procedures
The school excess staff process is illustrated below:
Reviewed 30 March 2020
