Non-attendance or inappropriate conduct in a job interview 001-10070070

Job seekers receiving a participation payment are expected to attend all job interviews their provider has arranged or they have secured for themselves. When attending a job interview, job seekers are expected to present and conduct themselves, speak and behave in a way that gives them the best opportunity to secure employment.

Where the provider arranges the job interview, the provider has responsibility for ensuring the job seeker receives proper notification and reasonable notice. The provider also has responsibility for monitoring the job seeker's attendance and contacting the job seeker where they have been advised of inappropriate behaviour during the job interview.

Where a job seeker fails to attend a job interview or behaves inappropriately this is managed using the relevant job seeker compliance system.

PST staff responsible for investigating non-attendance at a job interview must consider whether the:

• job (on offer at the job interview) was suitable/unsuitable work for the job seeker
• job seeker was given reasonable notice to attend the job interview
• job seeker had a reasonable excuse for non-attendance

An assessment that the job seeker gave prior notice for non-attendance at a job interview (or that a reasonable excuse existed for not doing so) is not required by legislation for a determination to be made. Although, staff may consider whether the job seeker's contact prior to the job interview is relevant in establishing the job seeker's intent to comply and this may add weight to the evidence they provide.

PST staff responsible for investigating inappropriate presentation or conduct at a job interview that resulted in an offer of employment not being made, must be satisfied there is sufficient evidence to conclude the job seeker's behaviour was deliberate.

This type of behaviour may include:

• dressing in a way that is clearly inappropriate for the interview
• displaying an obvious lack of interest in the job on offer, for example, a lack of responsiveness to the employer's questions or explanation about the job on offer
• using inappropriate language
• rudeness or verbal abuse
• any other offensive or inappropriate behaviour at the interview

Circumstances not within the job seeker's control such as excessive nervousness, poor language or verbal skills or a limited wardrobe cannot be considered as deliberate misbehaviour. It must also have been reasonably foreseeable that the behaviour would result in an offer of employment not being made.

The investigation should include:

• determining the job (on offer at the job interview) was suitable/unsuitable work for the job seeker
• checking that comments included by the provider when reporting the non-compliance give a clear and sufficiently accurate account of the job seeker's actual conduct at the job interview (presentation, statements or behaviour)
• where required, contacting the employer to ensure the account given by the provider can be confirmed

Where the job seeker fails to attend or satisfactorily participate in a job interview that was scheduled for a weekend, the compliance action depends on the job seeker compliance system they are managed under.

• Under the Targeted Compliance Framework, the failure event date will be the date the job interview was scheduled
• Under the Job Seeker Compliance Framework, the system will not allow a No Show, No Pay investigation to be generated where the incident date in on a weekend. In these cases, providers will submit a Participation Report with an incident date equal to the Monday following the weekend in which the incident occurred

Under the Targeted Compliance Framework, when a job seeker does not attend or satisfactorily participate in a job interview a mutual obligation failure has been committed.

Following a mutual obligation failure reported by the job seeker's provider, participation payments are not payable until the job seeker contacts their provider and meets reconnection requirements notified by their provider.

Participation payments are cancelled if the reconnection requirement is not met within 4 weeks.

Job seekers in the warning zone will fast track to the next assessment (either a Capability Interview or Capability Assessment) if the provider is not satisfied the job seeker has a valid reason for failing to attend or satisfactorily participate in a job interview.

Job seekers in the financial penalty zone will incur a financial penalty unless:

• on contact with the job seeker to discuss the failure, their provider closes the Non-Compliance Report (NCR) because they are satisfied the job seeker has a valid reason for not attending the job interview or the behaviour was not within the job seeker’s control, or
• the job seeker satisfies Services Australia during a compliance investigation that they had a reasonable excuse for non-attendance, the job was not considered suitable work or the behaviour was not within their control

Under the Job Seeker Compliance Framework, when a CDP participant does not attend or satisfactorily participate in a job interview a No Show, No Pay failure has been committed.

A No Show, No Pay failure is generated for investigation by Services Australia when a provider submits a Participation Report. Participation Solutions Team (PST) staff are responsible for investigating the incident and determining whether a No Show, No Pay failure has occurred.

Consequence of a No Show, No Pay failure

If applied, a No Show, No Pay failure will result in a No Show, No Pay penalty for the day the non-compliance occurred.

Applied No Show, No Pay failures contribute to a pattern of persistent non-compliance for a Comprehensive Compliance Assessment (CCA). An automatic CCA will be generated based on the number of No Show, No Pay failures applied in a serious failure assessment period. When a decision is made that a CDP participant has been persistently non-compliant, a serious failure may be applied.