The Commonwealth workplace authority says it is not to blame for a technical error that has thrown enterprise bargaining for 100,000 public servants into disarray.
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Instead, Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd has taken aim at what he calls the "excessive prescription" of federal workplace laws
The bargaining process has come off the rails in agencies and departments across the public sector after the Fair Work Commission found a failure to comply with a key technical requirement would render the whole process null and void.
Now workplace ballots are being cancelled or postponed and talks put on hold as departments and agencies realise they failed in their legal requirements at the start of the process and must now begin again.
But the Public Service Commissioner says the requirement to issue notice of employee representation rights at the start of the bargaining is so well known that his office did not have to advise departments and agencies to do it.
The practical effect of last month's FWC decision, in a case against curtain manufacturer Uniline, is that even if a workforce votes yes to an agreement, the deal cannot be legally ratified if the notices of employee representational rights had not been issued in accordance with the Fair Work Act.
But the commissioner said that his office did not have to advise departments and agencies to something so basic.
"The requirement to issue a NERR within 14 days of bargaining commencing is well known," a statement issued by Mr Lloyd's office said.
"It was not necessary for the APSC to issue advice re-stating this."
The commissioner also said that he believed all APS agencies were in compliance with the NERR requirements.
"As far as the APSC is aware, all agencies issued a NERR within 14 days of commencing bargaining.
"Agencies apply abundant caution to ensure they comply with the law.
"Some agencies discovered minor errors in their NERRs that could have rendered them invalid.
"Accordingly, they reissued the notice.
"It is possible that a corrected NERR may not have satisfied all the procedural requirements arising from the Uniline decision."
The commissioner said the problem was with excess regulation in the federal industrial relations landscape.
"The Uniline decision highlights the excessive prescription that overlays enterprise bargaining," Mr Lloyd's statement read.
"Agencies will examine the implications of the Uniline decision in the context of their particular circumstances.
"They will determine, what, if any action is required."
