Suitable employment is defined by section 4 of the Act as:
“(a)in the case of an employee who, on the day on which he or she was injured was a permanent employee of the Commonwealth ... and who did not subsequently terminate that employment - employment by the Commonwealth ... in work for which the employee is suited having regard to:
(i)the employee's age, experience, training, language and other skills;
(ii)the employee's suitability for rehabilitation or vocational retraining;
(iii)where employment is available in a place that would require the employee to change his or her place of residence - whether it is reasonable to expect the employee to change his or her place of residence; and
(iv)any other relevant matter; and
(b)in any other case - any employment (including self-employment) having regard to the matters specified in ... (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv).”
Subsection (a) only relates to employees who did not voluntarily resign or become redundant. This part of the Act ensures that, for the purposes of involuntary redundancy, suitable employment applies only to future offers of Commonwealth employment.
Subsection (b) relates to all other cases, including voluntary redundancy. It ensures that, for the purposes of suitable employment, any employment, either Commonwealth or in the workforce generally, can be considered.
However, it also points out that paragraphs (i) through (iv) must be taken into account, in exactly the same way as for subsection (a).