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Public Service Act 2020

People working in public service - Public service chief executives, system leaders, and public service leadership team - Public service chief executives

54: Duty to act independently in employment matters

You could also call this:

"Chief executives make employment decisions on their own, without asking the Minister."

When you are a chief executive of a department, you make decisions about employees on your own. You are not responsible to the Minister and you must act independently when deciding about things like hiring, promoting, or disciplining employees. You do this without asking the Minister what to do.

When you are a chief executive of a departmental agency, you also make decisions about employees on your own. You are not responsible to the Minister or to the chief executive of the department you work with, and you must act independently. However, there is an exception when making decisions about ministerial staff, as you must consider what the relevant Minister wants, as stated in section 70.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS197841.

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Government and voting > Government departments
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"Special bosses in the government called functional chief executives have their own jobs and responsibilities"

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Part 3People working in public service
Public service chief executives, system leaders, and public service leadership team: Public service chief executives

54Duty to act independently in employment matters

  1. Despite section 52(1), when making decisions about individual employees (including relating to the appointment, promotion, demotion, transfer, disciplining, or the cessation of the employment of an employee),—

  2. the chief executive of a department is not responsible to the appropriate Minister and must act independently; and
    1. the chief executive of a departmental agency is not responsible to the appropriate Minister or to the chief executive of the host department and must act independently.

      1. The independence required by subsection (1) is subject to the requirement in section 70 that a chief executive have regard to the wishes of the relevant Minister when making decisions about ministerial staff.

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