Att 6 disclosed.pdf

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DCJ COVID-19 – Vaccination Policy

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Purpose
This policy outlines DCJ’s COVID-19 vaccination requirements and its approach to
identifying locations or worksites that require vaccination in order to provide a COVID
safe work environment for employees and clients. It is informed by C2021-16
Guidance for Government Sector Agencies regarding COVID-19 Vaccinations for
their Employees.
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Definitions
Term
Definition
Clients
Clients is used to describe any individual, group, child or young person
who is involved in a voluntary or involuntary capacity with services or
programs provided by DCJ.
The term clients used in this policy includes but is not limited to
offender, inmate, person of a prescribed class, detainee, person with a
disability, child or young person their families or members of the public.
COVID-19
COVID-19 vaccination means obtaining a first dose then second dose
Vaccination
of a COVID-19 vaccine approved by the Therapeutic Goods
Administration for use in Australia.
Note: In the future this may also include COVID-19 additional/booster
vaccinations.
COVID-19 Risk
An internal process which DCJ and its delegates use to assist with the
Assessment
identification of, locations or worksites where vaccination is a control
measure against transmission of COVID-19 or serious illness/injury
arising from COVID-19.
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Scope
This policy applies to all types of DCJ employees within the Stronger Communities
Cluster, including Senior Executives, who work in or attend locations or worksites
identified as part of a COVID-19 vaccination risk assessment process.
Contractors, consultants, suppliers, volunteers and students (including
apprentices/trainees/those on work experience) must also comply with this policy.
Persons who work from or attend identified DCJ locations or worksites may be
notified that they are required to obtain a COVID-19 vaccination as part of the safety
response to the hazard of COVID-19 in the workplace.
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Policy statement
For the safety of DCJ employees and the communities we serve, the NSW
Government expects all government sector employees who can be safely vaccinated
to do so at the earliest opportunity.

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DCJ COVID-19 – Vaccination Policy

The risks of COVID-19 have presented the need to have comprehensive vaccination
requirements in place to:
  protect the communities we serve, noting that many are vulnerable
  protect our employees and their families from potential sources of infection
among the communities we serve
  provide a safe environment for our employees to work together
  ensure business continuity for our public services.
Vaccination not only reduces risk, it reduces the chance of infection with COVID-19
by around 60% - 80% and decreases the number of people who will be considered
close or secondary contacts in the event of a positive case.
DCJ, as an employer, has the power to give a direction to employees to be
vaccinated, including as a pre-employment requirement, and provide proof of
COVID-19 vaccination if the direction is:
  lawful;
  reasonable;
  within the scope or subject matter of the employee’s employment; and
  following a risk based assessment.
4.1  Reasonable directions
DCJ will confirm locations or worksites where a risk assessment has identified that
vaccination is required as part of the safety response to the hazard of COVID-19 in
the workplace.
Persons in these locations or worksites will be required to submit evidence of their
vaccination status via the Vaccination Register (refer to section 5.1 evidence of
vaccination status).
Access to these locations or worksites will be restricted to those who have provided
evidence of their vaccination.
People Business Partners will support locations or worksites with monitoring records
of vaccination to ensure compliance. Where individuals do not comply within the
required timeframe, they will be issued with a direction to comply.
4.2  Risk Assessment
The DCJ work health and safety (WHS) risk assessment process is used to assess
risk considerations for each business stream to identify risk management strategies
including, but not limited to, COVID-19 vaccination. Within each business stream,
consideration is given to the hazards at locations or worksites that are similar.

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DCJ COVID-19 – Vaccination Policy

Risk assessments are a standard safety tool to inform the extent to which a
particular risk must be controlled and mitigated.
The risk assessment broadly considers the following:
  Worksite or locations where it is necessary to protect workers from further
community transmission.
  There is a higher risk that employees will be exposed to the virus due to the
operating environment (e.g. employees who must work with persons where
social distancing is not always possible).
  The employee works with at risk populations (e.g. young persons, children,
healthcare workers or other employee groups who work with at risk
populations).
  PPE and other control measures, in the given circumstances, are inadequate
or there is a high risk of failure to sufficiently protect employees and the
community.
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COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements
5.1  Evidence of Vaccination status
DCJ has set up a Vaccination Register for employees to submit evidence of their
vaccination accessible via Service Now for FACS and Justice. The Vaccination
Register Guide provides instructions on how to submit evidence.
DCJ encourages all employees to record their vaccination status via the Vaccination
Register, regardless of whether their location or worksite has been identified through
a risk assessment process.
Where a location or worksite has been identified through a risk assessment process,
employees in those locations or worksites will be required to provide evidence of
their first and second dose COVID-19 vaccination status and must submit this via the
Vaccination Register.
Evidence of your COVID-19 vaccination status can include:
  a vaccination certificate or other evidence from a vaccine provider;
  an immunisation history statement which can be accessed from Medicare
online or the Express Plus Medicare mobile app;
  a statement of your vaccination history which you can request from the
Australian Immunisation Register;
  a record from a health practitioner, which includes a medical certificate.
Non-payroll employees, including contractors, consultants, suppliers, volunteers and
students, apprentices/trainees/those on work experience are required to meet the
vaccination requirements. The organisation they are engaged through must confirm

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DCJ COVID-19 – Vaccination Policy

compliance with this requirement before they commence with DCJ.
Managers/Supervisors must retain confirmation records locally.
5.2  Medical Contraindication
Some employees may seek an exemption if they have a medical contraindication. A
medical contraindication applies where an employee:
  provides a medical contraindication form completed by a registered medical
practitioner in the template that is provided by NSW Health and approved by
the Chief Health Officer and which:
o  certifies that the employee is unable to receive the COVID-19
vaccination because they have a recognised medical contraindication;
o  indicates whether the medical contraindication will permanently or
temporarily prevent COVID-19 vaccination; and
o  if the medical contraindication only temporarily prevents a COVID-19
vaccination, specifying when the person may be able to receive the
COVID-19 vaccination.
An employee diagnosed with COVID-19 and who has been issued a medical
clearance notice under the NSW Public Health Orders, is taken to be fully vaccinated
for up to 6 months from the date the medical clearance notice is issued. During this
time the employee is considered compliant with the DCJ COVID-19 Vaccination
Policy and can continue normal work duties associated with their role.
Employees are to submit the medical contraindication form and medical clearance
notice (where relevant) to their manager or one-up manager, who will review and
seek advice from People Business Partners. Alternatively, employees can submit
this information to their People Business Partner.
Where there is contention about the medical evidence, the Department may seek
advice from the employees’ medical practitioner and if required, the government’s
medical assessment provider.
Each case will be individually considered noting the medical condition, the working
arrangements, and the type of work, the risk to others in the workplace, the
availability of alternative work or anything else that is relevant.
Where an employee has a medical contraindication, consideration will be given to
either:
-  accepting the medical contraindication as fulfilling the vaccination
requirement, or
-  where the hazard in the workplace can’t otherwise be mitigated, providing a
reasonable workplace adjustment to enable alternative work.
If a registered medical practitioner certifies that an employee has a temporary
medical contraindication, which makes them unable to receive the COVID-19

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DCJ COVID-19 – Vaccination Policy

vaccination, any exemption based on this only applies for the period specified in the
medical contraindication form provided by the medical practitioner. If the medical
reason continues beyond that period, the employee must provide a new medical
contraindication form from their doctor.
Where a workplace adjustment is required and cannot be made, and once all other
relevant options have been ruled out, consideration may be given to whether the
person can continue in employment. Any decision will be made in line with applicable
DCJ policies and legislation.
5.3  Exceptional Circumstances
All employees are required to comply with reasonable directions to be vaccinated,
based on risk assessments, under this Policy.
In rare situations an employee may contend that there are exceptional
circumstances, other than a medical contraindication, that justify non-compliance.
Where an employee seeks to establish that exceptional circumstances justify non-
compliance, they must, prior to the compliance date, provide evidence and reasons
on the Exceptional Circumstances form.
Once the compliance date for the requirement to be vaccinated has been reached
the employee will be instructed to take leave immediately pending any decisions.
The process to claim exceptional circumstance is, the:
1.  employee must complete an Exceptional Circumstances Form and submit it to
their Manager/Supervisor or Manager/Supervisor one-up
2.  submission will be reviewed by a panel led by the People Branch.
Acceptance of non-compliance based on exceptional circumstances will only occur
in rare individual cases after consideration of the offered justification and evidence,
and in the context of public health and risk assessment requirements. If the
exceptional circumstance is accepted, an individual risk assessment must be
performed to determine if the employee can continue in employment with additional
control measures in place. Where a workplace adjustment is required and cannot be
made consideration may be given to whether the person can continue in
employment.
If an exceptional circumstance is not accepted, the employee will need to
demonstrate compliance with the policy comply within a reasonable timeframe
agreed between the employee and their Manager/Supervisor. This could include the
employee being required to take leave.
5.4  Employees who do not comply
Where an employee chooses not to comply with a requirement to be vaccinated,
alternative arrangements will be implemented and employees will be instructed to
take leave immediately. Employees may access accrued recreation leave, extended

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DCJ COVID-19 – Vaccination Policy

leave, flex leave if eligible and leave without pay or a combination of these types of
leave.
Employees will not be able to access sick leave or COVID Special Leave.
These employees will be required to remain on leave until they are contacted by DCJ
with further instruction. The employee will be contacted within 7 days after entering
on to leave.
It may be determined that the employee has refused to comply with a reasonable
direction of DCJ. Failure to comply with this reasonable direction may be viewed as a
breach of the Code of Ethical Conduct and may result in Misconduct action being
taken in accordance with Section 69 of the Government Sector Employment Act
2013 and the Government Sector Employment (General) Rules 2014 (GSE Rules)
Part 8. Such action may ultimately lead to termination of employment.
5.5  Record Keeping
Employees’ Medical Contraindication Forms will be securely stored on their
personnel file and kept confidential and will only be accessible to people who are
required to access it in line with DCJ’s Records Management Policy.
Employees can request to access this information at any time and can also request
that any relevant updates are made to it. Employees should also keep a record of
their vaccination evidence and/or medical contraindication.
DCJ values your safety as its highest priority.
DCJ is collecting information about employees and their vaccination status to
determine which staff have been partially and/or fully vaccinated against COVID-19
to ensure our safety in the workplace and for those we come into contact with while
we are at work.
DCJ will collect your name and whether you are an authorised worker, your work and
residential LGA as well as your residential postcode. We will also collect your contact
details, your vaccination status as well as the vaccine type and vaccination dates. If
you do not wish to provide your vaccine type you will be required to confirm whether
the vaccine you have received has been approved for use in Australia by the TGA
which can be found at the following link: https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-
programs/covid-19-vaccines/about-rollout/vaccine-agreements. We will provide this
information to your manager to assist your manager to make decisions to manage
the risk of transmission of COVID-19 in the workplace.
DCJ is collecting this information directly from employees for the purpose of
conducting risk assessments and to inform future decision making to protect workers
and others from risks to their health and safety under the Work Health and Safety
Act 2011 and in accordance with current New South Wales Public Health Orders.
Please note that if you refuse to provide this information to DCJ, it may be
determined that you have refused to comply with a reasonable direction of DCJ and

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DCJ COVID-19 – Vaccination Policy

disciplinary action may be taken against you in accordance with the Government
Sector Employment Act 2013 and the Government Sector Employment (General)
Rules 2014.
Further information about your privacy rights and your personal information as well
as how you can access and amend your personal information can be found on the
Department’s website www.facs.nsw.gov.au/site_information/privacy or by calling 02
9377 6000.
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Support and advice
Advice and support regarding this policy is available from:
  Managers
  People Business Partners
  Union representatives
  Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – Contact Converge International on 1300
687 327
Contractors and consultants should discuss this policy with their respective
organisation / agency. Volunteers should also discuss this policy with their
Departmental contact officer.
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Related legislation and documents
  DCJ COVID-19 Vaccination Policy – Employee Fact Sheet
  C2021-16 Guidance for Government Sector Agencies regarding COVID-19
Vaccinations for their Employees
  DCJ Code of Ethical Conduct
  The Departments relevant Misconduct procedures
  DCJ Records Management Policy
  Government Sector Employment Act NSW 2013
  Government Sector Employment Regulation (NSW) 2014
  Government Sector Employment Rules (NSW) 2014
  Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002;
  NSW Public Health Orders
  Public Health Act 2010
  DCJ Vaccination Register
  DCJ Vaccination Register Guide

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DCJ COVID-19 – Vaccination Policy

  Work Health and Safety Act (NSW) 2011
  Work Health and Safety Regulation (NSW) 2011
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Document information
Document name
COVID-19 Vaccination Policy
Applies to
All Department of Communities and Justice employees,
contractors, consultants, volunteers, students,
apprentices/trainees, suppliers and those on work experience.
Replaces
nil
Document reference
D21/1550702
Approval
Department of Communities and Justice
Executive Board
Version
1.0
Commenced
18 October 2021
Due for review
6 months from commencement date
Policy owner
Workforce Strategy, Inclusion and Systems
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Support and advice
Who can people go to if they need more advice?
Business unit
Workforce Strategy, Inclusion and Systems
People Corporate Services
Email
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xxx.xx

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