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It’s not just the State Award that is committed to making councils provide family friendly and flexible work

Details: Published: Thursday, 31 July 2014 10:00

The 2014 State Award provides two significant improvements for working parents that coincide with publication by the Australian Human Rights Commission of their Supporting Working Parents: Pregnancy and Return to Work National Review.

On a weekly basis we provide advice to members dealing with councils reluctant to embrace the flexibility provided in the Award for parents returning to work - particularly mothers. It seems extraordinary that we would need to do so but two improvements in the 2014 Award will make it harder for councils to ignore their obligations.

First, the 2010 Award acknowledged the intention of the parties to the Award to “ensure flexibility for work and family responsibilities” but at many councils this didn’t happen. The 2014 Award has taken this commitment further with the addition of two simple words, with the Award now requiring that they facilitate these arrangements as well. The Award now commits the parties to the Award to “ensure and facilitate the flexibility for work and family responsibilities”, so unsympathetic, unsupportive or even hostile Councils really will have to do something.

Second, clause 22 Flexibility for Work and Family Responsibilities now provides this new wording:

“In recognition of the commitment to provide flexibility for work and family responsibilities and the need to retain skills and experience within the industry, employers are encouraged to develop and promote flexible work and leave arrangements to enable their employees to better manage their work and family responsibilities”.

We are already familiar with snide observations from supervisors and managers about accommodating what they see to be unrealistic or unreasonable requests; negativity from the same managers or supervisors when the Council’s own policy document encourages “your positive attitude towards flexible work arrangements is essential”; the reliance on obsolete policies which pre-date the Fair Work Act and its absolute requirements to respond positively to flexible working arrangements; dawdling and ignoring reasonable timeframes; expecting child care arrangements are easily found and almost instantly changed; smug reliance on assertions that the flexible working hours policy doesn’t operate concurrently with the working from home policy (even though neither policy specifies this); ignorant assertions that flexible arrangements are not available for “long-term dependent care” when the policy doesn’t mention childcare or parental responsibilities but focuses only on caring for the ill or injured - and where the Fair Work Act and the Award require otherwise; responding to a request by proposing a 50% reduction in working hours instead, with the loss of the leaseback car; arguing that working from home arrangements are not there to accommodate childcare responsibilities even though other employees at work are doing precisely that; and demanding special requirements for working parents to keep appropriate credits in their flexitime, when that doesn’t apply to people who aren’t parents; and, part-time working arrangements that require a capacity, without reasonable notice, to be available for weekend work.

And all of this while the Council boasts its commitment to doing the right thing. A glossy booklet with the General Manager smiling with the caption “A great place to work …” that promises flexibility in attracting and retaining quality staff and flexible work environments that help all staff to balance their work, family and other responsibilities, but which are clearly more honoured in their breach than their observation. And so far, we’re only talking about Penrith.

We will tell you more about Penrith in subsequent issues as we move them into 2014.

While Australia falls well below the arrangements for employing women with young children in OECD countries, less attention has been paid to making employers provide more flexible arrangements for working parents. The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Report found that much needs to be done to make workplaces more welcoming for mothers and fathers returning from parental leave, and to prevent discrimination.

The Report found that 49% of mothers had experienced discrimination during pregnancy, parental leave and their return to work, 32% suffered discrimination requesting or taking parental leave and 34% in dealing with their family responsibilities. These figures seem consistent with our experience.

In addition to the protections available in the State Award, progressive National Employment Standards are incorporated in clause 21F Parental Leave (General) and 21G Requests for Flexible Working Arrangements. Some councils still don’t understand this.

The Report also found amongst employers “confusion and uncertainty about their legal obligations, and about employee rights”. We are always happy to help the confused and the uncertain.

If you are having issues of discrimination at work because of your family responsibilities, let us know.

And if you are making a request for flexible working arrangements, here is a link to your rights through the State Award and the Fair Work Act 2009.

What’s your Council doing about the Award’s health and well-being provision?

Details: Published: Thursday, 31 July 2014 09:59

Clause 24 Health and Wellbeing is a new provision that apart from providing encouragement to councils to develop workplace health and/or wellbeing programs, allows councils to agree to provide up to 2 days paid leave each calendar year from employees’ accrued sick leave to participate in a health and/or well-being activity.

This is subject to some considerations but the critical issue is that there is a discretion for each Council to opt in, or opt out of the option, to provide the additional leave.

What’s your Council doing? This was one of our claims and we would like to keep a record of which Council is providing this as an option as part of its commitment to looking after the health and well-being of its staff - and those councils deciding to do otherwise.

We’ve already seen one draft policy from Penrith (Penrith just can’t seem to do the right thing at all these days) which proposes to restrict the provision to “medical appointments or medical treatments/screenings by medical/health practitioner”. This frustrates the intention of the clause and directs it away from fitness, healthy lifestyle activities, general exercise programs and their establishment with a trainer or in a gym and a whole range of other activities that will contribute to the well-being of an employee.

Penrith won’t be the only Council trying this on (let’s hope the employee representatives on the Consultative Committee rejects this) and we would like to know who and which Council is trying to frustrate the intention of this clause. Is it just indolent or lazy HR people or others higher up?

Please let us know. Would also like to know those councils which are embracing it and trying to do the right thing by their staff. It’s not all about bad news.

An early favourite for our 2014 HR Award

Details: Published: Thursday, 31 July 2014 09:59

Like finding a Japanese soldier on some obscure island in the Pacific, who still thinks he’s fighting the Second World War, we have found a council that looks like it didn’t properly grade its senior health and building surveyors (as they used to be known in the Health Surveyors State Award) way back in 1992.

Everywhere else (until we discovered Taree and Hastings a couple of years ago and fixed them) has had seniors as band 3 level 3 since 1992. So how does it happen that Shoalhaven have them at 3/2?

The systemic and chronic rorting of job evaluation at Shoalhaven was exposed in their current restructure. This was a process where, not only did they breach their obligations under the State Award to advise employees affected and the union to which they belong, but it was only when they tried to jam existing “seniors” into even bigger jobs, with even more staff, and still at 3/2 and no more money that the whole questionable system started to unwind.

We filed an industrial dispute which has been before the Commission on five occasions. On the first occasion the USU and the LGEA wanted to intervene because they had concerns about the process as well and this was contested by the Council - asserting that this was really only about the evaluation of one position when the dispute notification made it abundantly clear it was about much, much more. They lost that argument. We welcome the other unions. That’s 1 nil.

In the dispute proceedings Council agreed to re-evaluate the team leader jobs using 00Soft (the old Wyatt) and we then discovered they were using version 19, the 1993 version that was made obsolete when it was superseded by version 20 in 1995. Version 20 provides more reliable evaluation consistent with the skill descriptors in the Award – particularly in the professional area. As part of the dispute, despite their original defence of the superseded obsolete system, the Council has agreed to transition to version 20 from 1 January 2015. That’s 2 nil.

Council was adamant they had properly evaluated these positions (as a general rule, councils never admit to rorting or fiddling the system) but the re-evaluation found that the positions really were 3/3. Council then had to agree that the positions would be 3/3 because it was their idea that we’d sit down and go through the evaluation. That’s 3 nil.

The upgrading led to a redundancy for one of our long-standing members John Britton (well done John and enjoy your retirement) and may well provide another. I think we can count that as 4 nil.

Then two members were offered the Team Leader positions but under the condition that access to a leaseback car would be “discretionary” and not a continuation of the condition of employment cars they had enjoyed in their current positions. This was subsequently claimed to have been a mistake, but the realisation this was a mistake was very slow in coming and while they were wondering whether it was a whether it wasn’t, they kept asserting locally that they are entitled to do this. That’s 5 nil.

And we discovered other employees who had a car as a condition of employment, when offered promotional positions, have been asked to sign away their condition of employment car for a car that can be removed with six months’ notice.

Group Director Tim Fletcher and a movable feast of HR functionaries are up to their eyeballs in this fiasco. GM Russ Pigg delegates things down the organisation so, ironically at least, he can devote some time to going along and present at a convention of the Local Government Poseurs Association about “Transformational Change – The Shoalhaven Story”. Oh Russ, you are such a wag! You have to admire self-deprecating humour. That’s a story that should be R rated.

The Council has a pay policy which prevents employees, concerned about the accuracy of the evaluation of their position, asking for the position to be re-evaluated unless there have been “significant changes” to the position. This sort of provision sets the rorted level in concrete. But on the last occasion this was argued out in the Commission, the Council agreed to re-evaluate positions of those members who wanted their positions re- valuated given the new understanding about the appropriate level for Team Leader positions. That’s 6 nil.

They also agreed to provide a list of those employees who may have been asked to sign a letter of offer including a discretionary car - something that they had refused to do before. So, that’s 7 nil.

And on every single issue, the Council dawdles, obfuscates and then precious and sensitive people in management get distressed about the tone of emails the union sends to its members. Poor little loves.

In particular, they didn’t like us saying this:

• rorting the job evaluation system to keep positions out of 3/3

• we’ve sprung them and remedied the issue

• chronic rorting of job evaluation, trying to forcibly redeploy people into positions without giving the opportunity of taking a redundancy

• for trying to cheat (two members’ names deleted) out of their rights to a car and being sprung

• and robbing who knows how many people of their rights to a condition of employment car in taking another promotional position.

Funny, they never objected on any of the occasions when precisely that sort of language was used in the Commission. What do you think? If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.

Shoalhaven has made itself an unbackable favourite. The award can sit alongside the GM’s Certificate of Appreciation from LGPA for his “Transformational Change- The Shoalhaven Story” presentation.

Shock, horror, more bad news on the quality of private certifiers

Details: Published: Thursday, 31 July 2014 09:59

The shortcomings of the private certification system continue.

The ACT Auditor-General Maxine Cooper has conducted an investigation into development assessments and made observations about “potentially improper” relationships between builders and certifiers. Oh no, another “we told you so” moment.

“Dr Cooper has called for more auditing of certifiers’ decisions, more training for certifiers and a public register of demerit points against them”, according to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald by authoritative local government editor Harvey Grennan on 22 July. The Herald reports that the Auditor-General’s office conducted seven case studies and “found that two dwellings should have been subject to a full development application and three others gave rise to consideration of disciplinary action against certifiers.”

Dr Cooper criticised the inadequacy of penalties against certifiers and prominent authority on construction liability and certification, Kim Lovegrove, Melbourne solicitor and partner in a building and planning law firm Lovegrove Smith and Cotton, observed that “the Auditor-General has hit on a number of serious issues which extend beyond ACT borders.”

“Last year my colleague Stephen Smith called for a number of reforms to private certification more generally, including not only mandatory auditing and continuing professional development for certifiers, independent peer review, more oversight powers and higher penalties but also a regulated floor on certifier fees to ensure these cannot drop to a level which would compromise professional standards”, Professor Lovegrove said.

The Herald observes “the Canberra findings mirror some of those of the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal in a draft report on local government compliance and enforcement released in May. This found inadequate penalties being imposed. Disciplinary action was taken against only 1% of all accredited certifiers and 0.1% received more than a fine and a reprimand. No action was taken on 72% of all complaints.”

There have been no adverse findings against accredited council employees.

Farooq gets Farooqed

Details: Published: Monday, 28 April 2014 12:18

GM Farooq Portelli and Mayor Ned Mannoun in happier times

GM Farooq Portelli and Mayor Ned Mannoun in happier times

If you choose to live by the sword, you die by the sword. What a great biblical reference (Matthew 26:52, if you would like to check) and one where Wikipedia helpfully provides a non-literal interpretation, “if you use violence, or other harsh means, against other people, you can expect to have those same means used against you.”

So, true to those ancient words, no one should have been too surprised to see the Liverpool GM get Farooqed himself.

As a reminder, it was only in 2012/13 that the local government unions were brawling with Liverpool City Council over their plan to spill their director and manager jobs, make some people redundant and employ the new second and third levels of management as senior staff under the Local Government Act on the dreadful statutory senior staff contract. Easier to sack people that way.

During the course of the dispute, Liverpool Mayor Councillor Ned Mannoun confessed at a UDIA breakfast that they didn’t want to waste time performance managing duds out of the place, because “that can take up to 18 months”, so putting people on the term contract mandated by the DLG meant they could just get rid of people whenever they wanted, without even having to explain why and the payout to sack GMs not performing badly is only 38 weeks’ pay.

Regrettably, a timid Judge of the IRC rejected our request to require the Mayor to come and say those same things in the Commission as part of the proceedings in the dispute. After all, GM Portelli hadn’t been game enough to confess what we all knew to be true.

We last covered developments at Liverpool in our March 2013 issue (which included the picture of the GM and the Mayor above) but things didn’t really go too well for Farooq after that. Running battles with the councillors followed for the remainder of the year and the Mayor tried unsuccessfully to sack him in December.

Rumours were flying in early March and on 1 April the Sydney Morning Herald revealed all under the heading “Senior public servants sacked without explanation”.

You almost have to feel sorry for Farooq. His venal and punitive approach to setting up people on employment contracts who can be removed with no checks or balances created a dangerous precedent that would make more people vulnerable to unfair treatment - and his sacking by Liverpool made him the ninth GM sacked because of politics after the local government elections two years ago.

Former Labor Mayor Wendy Waller criticised the way things had gone and said “the Mayor basically gave a testimonial in regards to the general manager’s performance, yet it’s his mayoral minute that basically cancels the contract”.

“So I think “hypocritical” is the only word I see as being appropriate.”

Karma is a more appropriate word. If you use harsh means against others, expect them to happen to you.

Barry Farooqs himself

Details: Published: Monday, 28 April 2014 12:03

You’ve dropped the Grange, Barry

You’ve dropped the Grange, Barry

The resignation of Premier Barry O’Farrell on 16 April took everyone by surprise. His resignation followed assurances to the ICAC the day before that he had not received a bottle of 1959 Grange from Liberal Party identity and Obeid connection, Nick Di Girolamo.

This, despite evidence presented to him that the wine had been bought, delivered to his house and shortly afterwards he had a short phone conversation on his private mobile phone with Mr Di Girolamo. He denied it, and he denied it strenuously and repeatedly.

But, as often happens in the theatre which is the ICAC, up pops a thank you letter in the Premier’s own fine fountain-penned hand thanking “Nick and Jodie” and signed “Baz and Rosemary”. Uh oh …

At least he had nice manners. His Mum should be proud.

There are lessons in this for employees in local government. There are no longer any secrets. People have ways of finding everything you would rather not found and doing so at precisely the wrong time.

While some are trivialising the circumstances of the resignation by claiming it was all about forgetting to declare a bottle of wine, it was much, much more than that.

Not just breaches of guidelines for ministers and politicians, not just the blurred line between what’s acceptable when you’re running for power and what’s acceptable when you’re in government, not just a failure to acknowledge phone calls nor the extent of relationships, and not just attempting to withhold information about meetings, their frequency and their purpose.

Then there was the unfortunate timeframe of the gift he can’t remember receiving with the Premier’s subsequent intervention over his Water Minister’s portfolio to look after a mate and benefactor and the subsequent revealing of his office taking steps to recommend Di Girolamo for a Government Board only two weeks after the gift was delivered and the thank you letter written.

In the end, it’s hard to get away with anything that is anything less than appropriate and proper and satisfies guidelines for governance and propriety. Don’t try it.

Fearless leaders copy everyone - Local Government Managers becomes Local Government Professionals! (But nothing changes)

Details: Published: Monday, 28 April 2014 11:39

If you don’t have the answer, copy from someone who does

For an organisation constantly boasting about their leadership to the industry, LGMA, or LGPA in its new disguise, is pretty short on original ideas. We don’t mind consenting adults getting together to pleasure themselves in a group, so we’ve always been bemused by the organisation that started representing the interests of town or shire clerks.

The Town Clerks Society, the Institute for Municipal Management, the Local Government Managers Association and now the Local Government Poseurs. Oops, while that might be more accurate, it really is Professionals.

It was never a good business model to be a little organisation covering Town or Shire Clerks (there were never going to be many of them) so it makes sense for them to keep expanding and sucking into their vortex more and more of the hapless and the gullible. Still, rubbing shoulders, or whatever part of the body you prefer, with the self-important and particularly the “leaders”, does provide a degree of pleasure associated with it.

When we changed our name from the Environmental Health and Building Surveyors Association to the Development and Environmental Professionals’’ Association in 2003, they should have woken up. The true leaders did it all back more than a decade ago. It’s hard to boast about being the leaders in the industry when you do something that we did 11 ½ years ago. Still, nice to know we influence them in some way.

Committed to parenthood statements like management excellence and all that stuff, the LGMA really needs to get its act together about what it is, and what it does.

We remember it most as the organisation responsible for lying back and thinking of the Empire and allowing their members to get well and truly rogered when they jointly developed the first statutory general managers and senior staff contract with the DLG and the LGSA.

This is the contract that prohibited the continuation of payment for untaken sick leave for anyone who had it (because they didn’t understand the provision in the Industrial Relations Act that does allow the continuation of payment for untaken sick leave other than in an industrial Award and took the advice of other people who didn’t know) and which famously thought it made sense to introduce a provision to allow the termination of good people by paying 38 weeks’ pay. What an achievement.

That meant that the concept of a standard contract, and its content, was developed by permanent bureaucrats in the DLG with all of the protections of the public sector and no expertise in industrial relations, the LGSA representing councillors (yes, the people who would employee general managers) and the IMM, purportedly representing the interests of people who would be employed under the contract but completely ignorant of employment law and industrial relations. Still, they were probably there representing management excellence.

The IMM always loved contracts, this was the first organisation that thought they should be introduced for general managers so that the status of the general manager would be better acknowledged. Wasn’t that fabulous vision and leadership! Nine GMs, with no performance problems at all, sacked in the last two years and with no protection or defence.

And when the standard contract came up for renewal through a working party, they sat there mute while the three unions argued to remove term employment for general managers and improve the capacity for bonuses and other flexibilities in remuneration. Even at the meeting that coincided with the unreasonable termination of a good GM at Camden, all they could say was that it’s unfortunate when their relationship problems between the GM and councillors. Unfortunate! The real leaders wanted to do something about it.

No interest at all in protecting senior staff as employees and, change their name as they might, no interest in in protecting professionals generally either.

And now they run HR conferences. Move on, nothing to learn here.

If they were really looking for a P word, there are plenty of better and more accurate options.

The three last reasons why you would remain a member of AIBS have gone

Details: Published: Monday, 28 April 2014 11:36

Margaret, Bill and Shelley

The final, blundering and sad purge of the NSW office of the AIBS is complete. On 24 March the goths and vandals from the National Office waved goodbye to the remaining staff, bundled up some important stuff in boxes and shut the office for good.

NSW Chapter EO Bill Burns had worked for the AIBS for more than 20 years. Bill was a highly respected, admirable and decent bloke with a distinguished local government career and a long history as a member of the Committee of Management and President and of depa. Goodbye, Bill.

Administration Manager Margaret Bayliss had worked for the AIBS for 15 years and membership Officer Shelley Melville had worked for the AIBS for 12 years. Goodbye Margaret and Shelley.

Not just three good, faithful and reliable employees, but all that corporate knowledge lost in a federal takeover that will leave no familiar faces and no lasting relationship in the Pymple office with anyone from NSW.

More importantly, the power wielders in the Federal Office made no real attempt to explain what they were doing to members, who were left wondering as one-by-one, Margaret, Bill and Shelley disappeared.

Many members of ours are also members of the AIBS. We don’t really understand why, but they are, but they must really be wondering why they would bother now.

Don’t ask Bill, Margaret or Shelley because, as most of you will know, employees affected by the closing down of offices and businesses often end up with a Deed of Release which, amongst other things, pledges confidentiality and no disparagement.

Suffice to say, because Bill is a life member of depa, we provided access to our lawyers to assist in his exit, and advice to Margaret as well who, luckily for us, is now our Office Manager. It was messy, antagonistic and offensive, but it’s done.

You would have thought that NSW would have some influence on the Federal Executive, that the NSW representative would have gone in to bat for those three loyal employees but you would have been disappointed. He’s a diplomat, you see, in the grand Federal scheme of things. Peace in our time and all, that sort of diplomat.

So now NSW is just like the other states. No proportional representation (always a mistake when the BSI was first abandoned because the smart people in AIBS at the time thought you needed to be part of a federal body) will always mean that while NSW might have half the membership nationally, it gets the same vote as the Tasmanians.

And if that voter thinks his role means he has to be a diplomat and that, in turn only means appeasing the aggressors, then there is no hope.

Bill Margaret and Shelley all deserved a better departure.

Goodbye Don, hello Paul

Details: Published: Monday, 28 April 2014 11:29


Former Minister Don Page		New Minister Paul Toole

We are sorry to see the removal of Don Page as Minister for Local Government as part of the new Cabinet of Premier Mike Baird.

Far too many ministers for local government have come and gone over the years. Having presided over the current reviews into local government, it’s a pity Don Page couldn’t see the job through. All those outstanding recommendations demanded the continuity and commitment the previous Minister Don Page could provide.

He also seemed a decent bloke, accessible and understanding of local government and its issues and with capable and accessible staff as well.

Sorry to see you go, Don.

But welcome to the new Minister Paul Toole, member for Bathurst and another member of the National party.

At least he’s had some local government experience - even if it was only as a councillor and Mayor.

We will try to see the new Minister when things settle down and when it’s clear who will be supporting him in his Parliamentary Office. My great-grandparents are from Bathurst, so that should help opens doors. Hey bro!

O’Farrell/Christian Democrats deal to reduce smut and innuendo behind removal of BPB’s Neil Cocks and Margaret Hole

Details: Published: Tuesday, 01 April 2014 00:01

The disappearance of BPB CEO Neil Cocks into the Department of Planning and the removal of BPB Board member Margaret Hole was acknowledged today as part of a Government campaign to remove smut, cheap jokes and innuendo from the NSW Public Sector.

NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell admitted that the Government needed crossbench support from the Upper House and, like agreements with the Shooters and Fishers to allow culling of feral animals in National Parks, an agreement with Fred Nile’s Christian Democrats will have widespread ramifications across the public sector.

“Neil had to go”, the Premier said. “He could so easily have simply used an “x” but the flagrant flaunting of the unfortunate plural was too much.”

CEO Neil Cocks had always been a problem for depaNews with a number of councils refusing to accept any publication where his name appeared prominently but Ms Hole was a risk as well. Nevertheless the names both individually and, particularly, in juxtaposition, was sufficient to distress our moral guardians in the Legislative Council and the Government.

In responding to questions Premier O’Farrell indicated that the process is really just beginning and questionable names would no longer have a place in Her Majesty’s New South Wales Government.

Prominent class-action litigants Slater and Gordon announced they will mount a class action for damages against the Government and inviting responses from others affected and targeting names such as Dick, Dolores, Fanny and John Thomas.

“This is just the start”, the Premier said. We will be clearing up innuendo in names as well as gestures is public.”

Premier O’Farrell and Mr Nile MLC demonstrate gestures no longer allowable in the public sector