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  • Is your business suitable for justice clients?

  • Police checks and your business

  • Understanding corrections orders

  • Where to find a justice client

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Is your business suitable for justice clients?

If your business is considering hiring a justice client, there are a few things you may need to consider.

Policies

  • Are you able to articulate your police check policy? Do you understand the laws relating to excluding an applicant based on a criminal record? 
  • What additional policies are in place if an applicant with a record is offered employment? For example, do you require a longer probationary period? 
  • What is your drug testing policy? Will this exclude applicants with drug-related offences? 
  • Is there scope to vary job functions or roles to avoid providing opportunity for employees to re-offend? (For example, limiting access to instruments that could be used as weapons).

Values

  • Is the type of offence committed by an applicant relevant? If so, what are the offences that need to be excluded? Consideration should be given to your business commitments to social responsibility causes as well as sponsors, partners and members
  • If you hire a justice client, do you have a plan in place for protecting and supporting the employee should details of their offences be discovered in the workplace?

Flexibility

  • Justice clients have mandatory requirements attached to their court-imposed order. Can you accommodate flexibility to meet the conditions of an order? 
  • Are you able to offer the option of casual employment? Some justice clients may require time to develop work fitness before transitioning to a permanent role.

Police checks and your business

A criminal record does not automatically mean that an applicant is not right for the role, and not every role requires a police check. 

Police checks are an important part of the hiring process, but they are not always necessary.

Police checks

A police check is a document provided by the relevant Australian police agency which details an individual's criminal history. 

A person must consent for the police agency to undertake a police check. 

Police checks are only mandatory for specific occupations or industries, such as teaching, where there is a legal requirement that a candidate does not have a specific criminal history. Otherwise, police checks are optional. 

Ideally, efforts should be made to communicate when roles are suitable for candidates with a criminal history.

Why you might request a police check

Police checks may be requested for risk mitigation, for example, where an employee might have unsupervised contact with vulnerable people, money, or sensitive information. However, under federal legislation, an employer may be subject of complaint to the Human Rights & Equal Opportunities Commission if they discriminate based on an irrelevant criminal record.

More information

The Red Cross has developed a step-by-step guide (External link) to help employers, from assessing the need for a police check through to discussing results with a candidate.  

Understanding corrections orders

Hiring a justice client is a unique opportunity to change someone's life for the better. As an employer, it can help to understand the conditions of a corrections order so that you can anticipate the specific flexibility an employee might need and determine when you may be able to request amendments. 

A corrections order is a court-imposed order either as an alternative to imprisonment or as a condition of release on parole from prison. An order will have mandatory conditions attached that may impact on employment.

Who has a corrections order

No two clients are the same - they represent diverse backgrounds and experiences. Some may have been charged with low-level offences such as unpaid fines, while others may have had more serious charges like theft and robbery.

Flexibility

Some conditions of an order can be flexible, while others are not. The best place to start is a conversation with your prospective or current employee. They can connect you with their justice practitioner. Timeframes and processes will be different depending on the type of order your employee is on - it is always best to ask.

Scenario one: Adjusting curfews

John has been offered the role of a labourer, with a start time of 6am. However, the conditions of John's corrections order state that he must be at home between 10pm and 6am. John's parole officer can apply to the Adult Parole Board to amend the curfew. As an employer, you will need to provide confirmation of job offer or of employment (if it has commenced already and changing shifts, for example). 

Scenario two: Flexible appointments

Amy's corrections order requires her to attend an appointment with her case manager on Wednesday afternoons, which clashes with her shifts with a new employer. By communicating with her case manager, Amy can have the appointment rescheduled to a time that does not interfere with her work shifts. 

Scenario three: Mandatory programs

Through his corrections order, Tom has been mandated to participate in a men's behaviour change program, which runs one day a week for over 20 weeks. Because this is a mandated and group-based program, there is little flexibility; the day cannot be changed, and it cannot be done online. Instead, Tom's participation in the program can be shifted towards the end of his order to allow your business time to plan for it.

Where to find a justice client

The Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS) employs 4 regionally based Employment Pathway Brokers (EPBs). 

EPBs are available to meet with you to understand your workforce needs and identify potential pathways for a justice client, as well as relevant supports to ensure a positive outcome for both client and employer.

The process

  1. Contact your local EPB to discuss your workforce needs
  2. Your EPB will connect you with a local employment service provider
  3. EPBs will work with local employment service providers to promote job openings to justice clients. Your local employment service providers may also have other jobseekers suitable to roles you are recruiting for.

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