Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
"ACT enactment" means an enactment as defined by section 3 of the Australian Capital Territory (Self - Government) Act 1988 .
"ACT teaching service" means the service known on 1 November 1988 as the Commonwealth Teaching Service.
"approving authority" means:
(a) in relation to a person who is, or was at the time of his or her ceasing to be an employee whether by reason of death or otherwise, employed in the Department of the Senate--the President of the Senate;
(b) in relation to a person who is, or was at the time of his or her ceasing to be an employee whether by reason of death or otherwise, employed in the Department of the House of Representatives--the Speaker of the House of Representatives;
(c) in relation to a person who is, or was at the time of his or her ceasing to be an employee whether by reason of death or otherwise, employed in a Department of the Parliament established under the Parliamentary Service Act 1999 other than the Department of the Senate and the Department of the House of Representatives--the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives;
(d) in relation to a person who is, or was at the time of his or her ceasing to be an employee whether by reason of death or otherwise, the holder of an office or appointment, being an office or appointment to which this paragraph applies or applied by virtue of subsection (8)--the person authorized to grant leave to the holder of the office or appointment by the law establishing the office or providing for the making of the appointment; or
(e) in any other case:
(i) the chief executive officer of the employing agency (the original agency ) in which the person is employed, or in which the person was employed at the time of his or her ceasing to be an employee (whether by reason of death or otherwise); or
(ii) if the original agency no longer exists--the chief executive officer (however described) of the replacement agency determined under subsection (1A).
"category A employee" means:
(a) an employee the whole of whose employment that counts as employment in a qualifying service for the purposes of this Act has been employment in a full - time capacity; or
(b) an employee the whole of whose employment that counts as employment in a qualifying service for the purposes of this Act has been employment in a part - time capacity.
"category B employee" means an employee other than a category A employee.
"chief executive officer" , in relation to an employing agency, means:
(a) if the employing agency is an Agency within the meaning of the Public Service Act 1999 --the Agency Head (within the meaning of that Act); or
(b) in any other case--the person (however described) who is the chief executive officer of the employing agency.
"employee" means a person who is to be taken, by virtue of section 10, to be employed in Government Service for the purposes of this Act.
"employing agency" means:
(a) an Agency within the meaning of the Public Service Act 1999 ; or
(b) a public authority of the Commonwealth; or
(c) a body covered by paragraph (6)(b); or
(d) a company covered by paragraph (6)(c).
"leave" means leave of absence.
"long service leave" includes long leave, furlough, extended leave and any other leave in the nature of long service leave (howsoever referred to).
"public authority of the Commonwealth" means an authority established or constituted by or under a law of the Commonwealth or of the Australian Capital Territory, other than an ACT enactment.
"retrenchment" , in relation to an employee, means the compulsory termination of the service of the employee for the reason that:
(a) his or her service or position is not necessary;
(b) the work for which he or she was engaged is finished; or
(c) a reduction in the number of employees is necessary because the quantity of work has diminished.
(1A) If the employing agency (the original agency ) in which a person was employed at the time of his or her ceasing to be an employee no longer exists at a later time, then the replacement agency at that later time is:
(a) the employing agency that is responsible for the matter to which the person's duties related, or mainly related, at the time of his or her ceasing to be an employee; or
(b) if there is no employing agency that is responsible for that matter--the employing agency that is nominated in writing by the Secretary of the Department.
(2) Subject to section 13, a reference in this Act to employment in a qualifying service is a reference to employment in Government Service or in a service referred to in subsection 11(2).
(3) For the purposes of references in this Act to a number of months (other than a reference to a number of completed months), the number of months shall be taken to be, where appropriate, a whole number and a fraction.
(4) For the purposes of references in this Act to a number of years (other than a reference to a number of completed years), the number of years shall be taken to be, where appropriate, a whole number and a fraction.
(5) For the purposes of this Act, a member of the Defence Force shall be deemed to be employed in the Defence Force, and, in the case of a member not engaged on full - time service, shall be deemed to be so employed while he or she is performing his or her duties as such a member.
(6) A reference in this Act to a person who is employed by, remunerated by, in the service of, on loan to or appointed or engaged by the Commonwealth shall be read as including a reference to a person who is employed by, remunerated by, in the service of, on loan to or appointed or engaged by:
(a) a public authority of the Commonwealth;
(b) a body (not being a public authority of the Commonwealth) established by or under a law of the Commonwealth or of an internal Territory that is declared by the regulations to be a body to which this subsection applies; or
(c) a company that:
(i) is incorporated (whether before or after the commencement of this paragraph) under a law of the Commonwealth or a law in force in a State or Territory;
(ii) is a trading corporation, or a financial corporation, within the meaning of paragraph 51(xx) of the Constitution; and
(iii) is declared by the regulations to be a body corporate to which this paragraph applies.
(7) For the purposes of this Act:
(b) a member of the Police Force of the Northern Territory shall be deemed to be employed in the Public Service of that Territory.
(8) Where:
(a) a provision of a law of the Commonwealth or of an internal Territory, other than an ACT enactment authorizes, whether expressly or otherwise, the Governor - General or a Minister to grant leave of absence to the holder of an office established by, or of an appointment made under, that law; and
(b) the holder of the office or appointment is, for the purposes of this Act, to be taken to be employed in Government Service by reason of holding the office or appointment;
the office is an office, or the appointment is an appointment, as the case may be, to which paragraph (d) of the definition of approving authority in subsection (1) applies.
(10) For the purposes of this Act, the minimum retiring age of an employee is:
(a) in the case of an employee who is an APS employee--the minimum that applies to the employee under section 30 of the Public Service Act 1999 ; or
(b) in the case of an employee who is employed by a public authority of the Commonwealth otherwise than in a permanent capacity:
(i) if the public authority has, for the purposes of this Act, fixed an age, less than 60 years, as the minimum retiring age in respect of a class of employees in which an employee is included--the age so fixed; or
(ii) if subparagraph (i) does not apply in relation to the employee--the age of 60 years; or
(c) in the case of any other employee:
(i) if, under the terms and conditions of his or her employment, an age that is less than 60 years of age is fixed as the age upon the attainment of which he or she is required to retire from his or her employment and no other age is fixed as the age upon the attainment of which he or she may retire from his or her employment--the age fixed as the age upon the attainment of which he or she is required to retire from his or her employment;
(ii) if, under the terms and conditions of his or her employment, an age that is less than 60 years of age is fixed as the age upon the attainment of which he or she may retire from his or her employment and the age so fixed is less than the age fixed as the age upon the attainment of which he or she is required to retire from his or her employment or no age is fixed as the age upon the attainment of which he or she is required to retire from his or her employment--the age fixed as the age upon the attainment of which he or she may retire from his or her employment; or
(iii) if subparagraph (i) or (ii) does not apply in relation to the employee--the age of 60 years.